The goal of hahaganda is to undermine the credibility and trustworthiness of a given target. At times, hahaganda takes a truly morbid form by trying to turn an attempted political assassination into a laughing stock.
Poking fun at vulnerable minorities is fun; getting laughed at is no fun. The Kremlin is weaponising hahaganda, but has a very selective sense of humour.
“Hahaganda” is a means of getting away with lies, calling it “humour”. A skit on national Russian TV depicted former US President Barack Obama in a stereotypical, racist way.
Pro-Kremlin disinformation outlets attempt to turn the attempted murder of dissident leader Alexei Navalny into a joke. “Hahaganda”- propaganda, disguised as humour, ridicule, is a powerful and efficient instrument for disinformation.
