Russian propaganda video features Russian air defense shooting down Santa’s sleigh over Moscow

Russian propaganda has escalated its efforts to incite hatred against the Western world and Western culture. During the Christmas period, Santa Claus became the target of Kremlin propaganda.

Russian social media channels have released a bizarre propaganda video showing Russian air defenses shooting down Santa Claus, followed by Ded Moroz, Russia’s version of Santa Claus, declaring, “We don’t need anything foreign in our sky.”

A Russian propaganda video features Santa Claus being shot down by Russian air defense at the same time when an Azeri plane crashed, reportedly downed by Russian air defenses. This New Year’s Eve propaganda video is being circulated in Russian social networks. 

Video shows Santa flying over New Year’s Eve Moscow with NATO missiles

The video shows Santa Claus flying over New Year’s Eve Moscow in a reindeer-drawn sleigh, holding a can of Coca-Cola in his hand and missiles with NATO emblems in the sleigh behind him.

Santa says in English, “Hello, Russians, here are your presents!” In the next shot, a young air defense fighter shoots down his sleigh with a missile. 

Next to him sits a character dressed as Ded Moroz (the Russian equivalent of Santa Claus), who says, “That’s right, we don’t need anything foreign in our skies.” The video ends with the text on the screen, “Happy New Year, Russians!”.

The video is not credited. The video was published by the Telegram channel “Pool #3.”.

This video also has an overt context of Western threats, as Santa is one of the symbols of Western culture, and he is shown with a NATO missile. And it comes at a time when Russian propaganda is blaming NATO and the West for the war in Ukraine, which Russia started. In addition, Russian officials and propagandists have repeatedly threatened missile attacks on NATO countries as a retaliation to military aid provided to Ukraine.

Parallels with the crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane

Many social media users have made parallels between the video’s content and the December 25 crash of the Azerbaijan Airlines plane from Baku to Grozny. There were 62 passengers and five crew members on board. The crash killed 38 people, and 29 others survived.

The official cause of the crash is currently unknown. At the same time, Azerbaijan Airlines said that before their passenger plane crashed near Aktau in Kazakhstan, it had suffered “external physical and technical interference.”

Euronews and Caliber.Az, citing sources in the Azerbaijani government, reported that the crash of the plane, which was en route from Baku to Russia’s Grozny in Kazakhstan’s Aktau, was caused by a Russian surface-to-air missile fired from the Russian Pantsir-S air defense system.

According to sources, the missile was fired during an unmanned attack by Grozny on December 25, which was reported by the Chechen authorities.

At the same time, pictures and video from the crash site posted online show holes in the plane’s skin. Their origin is to be identified. Kazakh police opened a criminal case over the crash.