In the months following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Svetlana has become increasingly concerned about her parents' television viewing habits.
The 23-year-old's parents live in rural Australia and rely solely on Russian television — which they stream via Chromecast — for their news.
Svetlana speaks Russian fluently and visited her parents recently, where she was bombarded with a very different view of the war in Ukraine on Moscow-based channel NTV, compared to what is portrayed in the Australian and Western media.
"It was like watching the clips that a lot of media portray of places like North Korea. It was extremely patriotic," she said.
"I found it to be quite jarring, the Russian TV."
Some Russian Australians who share concerns about the narrative broadcast by Russian state media — which describes the war as a "special military operation" — told the ABC that some channels depicted real images from the conflict, but with misleading context, suggesting Ukraine was the aggressor.
Svetlana — who asked to give only her first name — said her mother thought the war was necessary, although she felt for those who were suffering.
Because she wants to maintain a healthy relationship with her parents, Svetlana avoids the topic of politics. It makes her sad that her parents only have one source of news.
That was a concern for many in Australia's Ukrainian community too.
Iryna Dvoskina, the head coach of the Ukrainian Paralympic team, said she was outraged that Russian news was airing in Australia.
Her parents used to watch Russian TV, as her late father could not speak English, and she would often turn it off.
"He was 100 per cent influenced by the propaganda in 2014," she said, when Russia annexed Crimea.
She said she was especially concerned for elderly Russians who were unable to speak English being overly reliant on Russian-language news and not getting the full picture of what was happening in Ukraine.
That fear was shared by Michael Baron, a Russian IT consultant who came to Australia in 1991.
He said he was "ashamed" of the view Moscow was pushing and questioned why Russian television was still being broadcast via satellite within Australia.
"They show Putin in a positive light and in a very brainwashing kind of style," he said.
"It's poisoning people's minds."
Moves to block Russian state media
After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, there have been moves to block avenues of potential Russian propaganda.
YouTube blocked some channels linked to state-owned Russian media, including Russia Today (RT) and news agency Sputnik, citing a policy about content that minimises or trivialises well-documented violent events.
SBS suspended news bulletins from Russia Today (RT) and NTV Moscow on February 25, "in response to community feedback from the Australian Russian-speaking community".
Satellite operator Foxtel also blocked the Kremlin-backed RT the following day.
However, a small number of Russian speakers still have access to Russian news channels on their TV screens, either online or through satellite TV subscription companies, including Connect TV and SatPro.
Connect TV — which does not broadcast RT — said it airs other Russian-language channels and Ukrainian channels "to provide a very balanced coverage of all sides of the conflict".
"We … at Connect TV, together with the rest of the civilised world, are very concerned about the situation in Ukraine and, while we may not share the narrative broadcast by some of the Russian broadcasters, we are trying to maintain a freedom of speech approach," a spokesperson said via email.
"Our prayers are with Ukraine," they added.
SatPro, which does air RT, was approached for comment.
Communications Minister Paul Fletcher welcomed the decision by SBS and Foxtel to block the channels.
"Given the current actions of the Russian government, and the lack of a genuinely independent Russian media, he has described this as a responsible decision," a spokesperson said.
"The minister has also written to the large online companies and asked them to take similar action here as in Europe and the USA, in light of the exceptional circumstances that are unfolding in Ukraine, and in the interests of protecting sovereignty and territorial integrity."
Meanwhile, the Russian embassy in Australia said it was not "officially aware of this" step from the minister, "but if, again, it is about denying Australians their right to freely access information, this is really regrettable, especially in a proud liberal democracy".
The embassy has previously criticised SBS and Foxtel, saying: "These acts of censorship deprive the Australian public of their right to freely seek information from diverse sources and make their own opinions on world developments."
Ilya Roshchenkov, the press secretary at the Russian embassy, said "special military operation" was "the official term used in Russia" and there was "nothing wrong with Russian TV using it".
"The real problem is that Australians don't get the full story about what is happening in Ukraine because they only watch Australian news, [which is] based exclusively on Ukrainian sources."
Putin's powerful propaganda machine framing Ukraine as a 'defensive' war
Julie Fedor — a senior lecturer in modern European history at the University of Melbourne — said since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Moscow had been framing the conflict as a "defensive" military operation "supposedly aimed at 'de-nazifying' Ukraine, and protecting Russian-speaking civilians in Ukraine".
"Over the years, the Putin regime has built up a powerful state media propaganda machine, designed to promote the Kremlin's vision of the world and to legitimise the authoritarian system that Putin has put in place," Dr Fedor said.
"More broadly, the war is being spun as a defensive war: The narrative is that Russia has been forced to take action in order to prevent Western plans to use Ukraine as a tool for destroying Russia and waging genocide against Russian people all over the globe.
However, Dr Fedor added that it was "difficult to assess the extent to which the Kremlin's propaganda messages are being delivered successfully to Russian Australians".
She said there were diverse views within the Russian community and some, such as the local Svoboda Alliance, had condemned the war and were in solidarity with Ukrainians.
Svoboda Alliance's president, Slava Grigoriev, said that, in the days following the invasion, he noticed an uptick in entertainment programs, then a shift to more political and analytical programs.
"Since the war started [there has been] … very, very limited amount of information, just like a brainwashing — just listening to music, watch those shows, don't think about what's going on," he said.
Mr Grigoriev said the anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia messaging was still making its way to Australia but, perhaps, in a more limited way because some channels have been blocked.
However, cutting off access altogether could be fraught, he said, if people were not able to access news they were paying for in their native language.
"It's difficult. I think it's probably better for them not to be brainwashed with the wrong information, maybe not to have it at all — at least temporarily, until the situation improves."
He encouraged Russian speakers reliant on state media to broaden their news sources, and suggested they could listen to SBS Russia's coverage, which he described as more balanced, to get an accurate picture of what was happening in Ukraine.
