In August 2021, a film company associated with Russia's propaganda machine released Blazing Sun, a war film that glorifies Russia's 2014 invasion of Crimea and has helped seed Russian President Vladimir Putin's justification for invading Ukraine last month. The film depicts Russian mercenaries as saviors who prevent Ukraine's government from committing a genocide against its own people — mirroring Putin's claim that he invaded Ukraine in order to "prevent genocide" and "denazify" the country.

It's just the latest example of a reality-bending new species of Russian propaganda that now includes dozens of videos of Ukrainian attacks on Russian citizens that appear to be faked, videos depicting a joint raid by the FBI and NYPD of a New York movie theater that the venue says never happened, and repurposed Cameo videos of Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump Jr. unwittingly congratulating a fictional film character on his achievements.