Curated excerpts from the Luganmedia holding, 2024–2026: what the propaganda says, and how uniformly it says it. Companion to the theme visualisations and the issue index.
One sentence · sixteen mastheads · one week
Утром ВСУ также обстреляли детскую площадку и здание Администрации…
In the morning the AFU also shelled a children’s playground and the Administration building…
This exact sentence ran verbatim in sixteen different town papers on 20–21 March 2025. The mastheads are local; the copy is centrally produced and distributed across the holding.
How centralised is it? A measurement of the whole corpus
The sentence above is not a one-off. Splitting all 1,102 issues into sentences and counting how many different papers each identical sentence appears in shows verbatim syndication at scale. Counting only sentences that carry propaganda vocabulary:
Distinct propaganda-carrying sentences (at least eight words) printed verbatim across the network of twenty-four papers. Shared services (horoscopes, saints’ calendars, TV grids, recruitment ads) run across all papers too and are excluded here. This is a lower bound: multi-column layouts fragment long shared articles differently in each paper, so many shared passages are not counted.
Named in every one of the 1,102 issues: the president as omnipresent patron.
Владимир Путин поручил Правительству России обеспечить устойчивую связь
Vladimir Putin instructed Russia’s government to ensure stable communications.
Кировск сегодня · Kadiivka · 2024-08-22
Putin appears as the provider of everything from internet to pensions, the single most frequent figure in the corpus.
Только вместе мы решим все поставленные перед нами задачи
Leonid Pasechnik: “Only together will we solve every task set before us.”
Красный Луч · Khrustalnyi · 2025-01-16
The installed LNR head’s loyalty refrain, the second most-quoted voice after Putin.
Russian citizenship pressed onto residents; the paperwork machinery brought to every district.
С 1 января 2025 года лица без паспорта РФ будут обязаны…
From 1 January 2025, persons without a Russian passport will be obliged…
Труд горняка · Bryanka · 2024-11-15
Passportisation by pressure: residents without a Russian passport are reclassified as foreign nationals in their own towns.
машины для выездного обслуживания населения многофункциональным центром
…vehicles for mobile servicing of the population by the multifunction centre.
Антрацитовский вестник · Antratsyt · 2025-01-15
The administrative machinery of integration: mobile ‘MFC’ units pushing Russian documents into rural districts.
State youth structures and ‘patriotic’ war-games, mandated from Moscow and printed town to town.
«Семейная зарница»… для школьников и студентов… по указу Владимира Путина
‘Family Zarnitsa’ [a military war-game]… for schoolchildren and students… by decree of Putin.
5 papers · across the holding · Jan–Mar 2025
A military-patriotic programme for children, mandated by presidential decree, and printed identically in town after town, like the war reports.
«Движение Первых»… восполнения кадрового дефицита
‘Movement of the First’ [state youth movement]… to fill the personnel shortage.
Вестник Северодонецка · Sievierodonetsk · 2025-03-26
The Kremlin youth movement enlisted as a labour and cadre pipeline for the occupation administration.
The neighbour recast as terrorist and ‘Nazi’, even in a children’s holiday poem.
Обстрел города в праздник – очередная попытка киевского…
Shelling the city on a holiday, yet another attempt by the Kyiv…
Восточный Донбасс · Dovzhansk · 2024-01-10
Ukraine is cast as a terrorist aggressor deliberately targeting civilians on holidays.
Отсекать надо орды нацистов
“We must cut down the hordes of Nazis.”
Восточный Донбасс · Dovzhansk · 2024-01-10
Dehumanising ‘Nazi’ framing, here inside a festive poem printed beside a children’s New Year feature.
Enlistment sold as masculine duty and a groundswell of volunteers.
Служить Родине – выбор настоящих мужчин.
“To serve the Motherland is the choice of real men.”
Беловодский вестник · Bilovodsk · 2025-01-17
Contract enlistment framed as a masculine moral duty, a register repeated across the network.
число желающих и готовых служить Родине… увеличивается
…the number willing and ready to serve the Motherland is growing.
Кировск сегодня · Kadiivka · 2024-08-22
Contract-service recruitment presented as a spontaneous surge of volunteers, beside a hotline number.
A Russian electoral and appointment apparatus mapped onto occupied towns.
поддержку кандидатуры Владимира Путина на предстоящих президентских выборах
…support for Putin’s candidacy in the upcoming presidential elections.
Восточный Донбасс · Dovzhansk · 2024-01-10
In an annexed region, the press mobilises for Russia’s March 2024 presidential vote.
главам… регионов самостоятельно назначать муниципальные власти
…heads of the regions to appoint municipal authorities themselves.
Вперёд. Ровеньки · Rovenky · 2025-01-16
Elected local self-government replaced by appointment from above, presented as administrative reform.
Everyday repair stories that fold the towns into Russian federal programmes, and into loyalty.
приступили к ремонту центральной площади города
…began repairs to the city’s central square.
Кировск сегодня · Kadiivka · 2024-08-22
The ‘reconstruction’ register: small improvements tied explicitly to Russian federal projects.
восстановлением… экономики… настоящего патриота России и Луганщины
…rebuilding the economy… a true patriot of Russia and the Luhansk land.
Белокуракинский вестник · Bilokurakyne · 2024-11-15
Reconstruction fused with loyalty: rebuilding equated with patriotism toward Russia.