SYMBOLISM AND VISUALIZATION IN THE FORMATION OF PROPAGANDIST COMMUNICATIVE SPACE BY THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION DURING THE ACTIVE PHASE OF THE RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN-WAR

The article is dedicated to the peculiarities of the formation of communicative space by Russian Federation during the time of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Only several aspects enabling the creation and development of propagandistic communication, namely – symbolic and visual are used as the base of the research. The author pays much attention to the peculiarities of the formation of the informational space of the Russian Federation after 2014, and to the methods able to ensure the desired result in a propagandistic message. In such a situation, propaganda is one of the methods for achievement of the desired result, organization of communicative space – one of the means of the declared method realization. The author raises the question: Why do they use namely symbols and their visualization? Why does the combination of these mechanisms of influence and manipulation increase the efficiency of propaganda? So, symbols are ready-made, formulated images that do not need to be deciphered, analysed, or proved. In this stage, the main task of a propagandist is to synchronize the tactics and strategy and support them with the relevant symbols – symbolic behaviour, symbolic background, symbolic signs, and symbolic visual row. While studying this symbol, the author presents the following of his functions: coding and decoding of the message and; – simplification of information perception; – acceleration of information perception; – acts as an identifier (ownforeign); – outlines the sphere, direction, and field of activity. Russian “military symbols” and the way they work among the military and civil population of the Russian Federation are analysed in the article. Research of Russian civil though of the analytical centre Levada-Centre and Active Group (the poll was conducted on March 11-14, 2022) using CATI method (computer-assisted telephone interviewing) is used as the basis. It would be correct to say that the visualization of symbols is an effective component of propagandist influence. Thus, visual and symbolic communication “work” jointly for strengthening the efficiency of the formation of the propagandist communicative space.