(MOSCOW) – Four years after the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin launched what he termed a special military operation against Ukraine, sections of the Russian press are revisiting Soviet history and calling for the creation of a new anti Western military bloc.
In a review of Russian newspapers dated 24 February 2026, attention was drawn to commentary in Moskovsky Komsomolets and Komsomolskaya Pravda, as well as references to Pravda.
Looking back at four years of war against Ukraine, Pravda concluded that the Russian army, the country and its adversary had all changed. It said Russia had cast off illusions about its enemies and friends.
An opinion article in Moskovsky Komsomolets, written by a lawyer and entitled Russia Needs a Military Alliance, lamented the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet led counterweight to NATO. The writer claimed that member states of the pact had acted together in restoring constitutional order in Hungary in 1956 and in Czechoslovakia in 1968.
The Soviet led invasion that crushed the Prague Spring in 1968 and the deployment of Soviet tanks in Hungary in 1956 were presented by the author as positive actions aimed at restoring order. The language mirrors official terminology now used in Russia to describe the invasion of Ukraine, which is variously labelled demilitarisation, denazification, protection of Russian speakers or an attempt to force Ukraine into peace.
The article argued in favour of a new multi country anti Western military alliance. It suggested that Western states had been unsettled by Russia’s military cooperation with North Korea, described by the writer as heroic but not among the most powerful states.
The author wrote that the global balance of power had shifted and that countries outside what was termed Western civilisation had strengthened their capabilities but lacked coordination. The creation and structuring of military alliances, or at least a clear declaration of intent, would in his view deter what he called global hegemony.
He questioned how Russia, China, Iran, Belarus, Cuba and others could guarantee their security without forming such alliances and said their creation was inevitable.
Alongside debate about foreign policy, Russian newspapers reported what appears to be a campaign against the Telegram messaging platform. Telegram remains widely used in Russia, including by state bodies and military channels.
Front page coverage in Komsomolskaya Pravda described Telegram as associated with criminal activity and accused it of protecting killers. The government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta claimed that during the special military operation Telegram had become a main tool for NATO intelligence services and what it called the Kyiv regime, alleging it was used to intercept coordinates, sell secret information and pressure servicemen and their families.
However, even some supporters of the war expressed concern about pressure on the platform. Moskovsky Komsomolets suggested that commercial interests linked to the introduction of a national state backed messenger outweighed arguments in favour of Telegram. The paper noted that Telegram has been used to provide communications on the front line and in border areas and to disseminate pro war messaging. It also pointed out that state and private funds had been invested in the platform to maintain communication channels between members of parliament, officials, governors, ministries and the Kremlin and the public.
