https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/russia-says-losing-because-ukraine-104546288.html

Actually, this propaganda tactic is not new, nor is it limited to Russian propagandists. During the Vietnam war, our failure to rack up convincing battlefield successes was often blamed (by conservative media) on the fact that our NVA and VC enemies were “hopped up’ on drugs that transformed them into tireless fanatical Kamikaze fighters immune to fatigue, fear or pain.. Amazingly, when our own troops started using these same drugs, it transformed them into lazy, cowardly pacifist, hippie wimps. Go figure.

You would think this sort of absurdist fantasy would be ultimately self-defeating, that those targeted with these lies would quickly become inoculated to them, but our own fake news industry suggests it is just the opposite. People will believe what they want to believe, provided it is repeated often enough.