Vranyo
Vranyo (Script error: The function "langx" does not exist.) is a Russian word and concept, which can be described as a lie being told despite it not being expected to be believed, but the person being told the lie goes along with it anyway.
Origin and meaning
The concept of vranyo dates back to the Soviet period. David Shipler, a longtime Moscow correspondent for The New York Times, shared an explanation of the word provided by a Russian friend, who described it as: "You know I'm lying, and I know that you know, and you know that I know that you know, but I go ahead with a straight face, and you nod seriously and take notes."[1][2][3][4]
Neil Bermel, a professor of Russian and Slavic studies, described vranyo as a noun formed from the verb vrat', which means ″to lie″. However, unlike vrat',[lower-alpha 1] which Bermel described as ″pejorative″, vranyo is more dismissive, a lie that is not expected to be taken seriously, but used as an excuse or to avoid responsibility.[5]
Vadim Medish, a Russian-American professor of history, studied vranyo and how Russians view and practice lying, summarizing it as ″We lie out of necessity. We lie when it's convenient. And we lie just to keep in shape.″ According to Medish, not all Russians are liars, but most are familiar with the concept of vranyo.[6][7]
Theodore Horowitz writing for the Australian Institute of International Affairs said that Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky, perplexed by the universality of vranyo, suggested in his essay Something about Lying (1873) that Russians are ″afraid of the truth″, and lamented that ″wholesale Russian lying suggests that we are all ashamed of ourselves″. According to Horowitz, vranyo can allow participants to rid themselves of this sense of shame, and ″life becomes better when everybody agrees to replace an unhappy reality with a more agreeable one.″[8]
Vranyo in Russian domestic and foreign policy
In 2015, the Lithuanian National Radio and Television described vranyo as a ″well-known and well-documented phenomenon″, citing Putin's denial of Russian soldiers in Crimea and the propaganda story about a crucified boy in Sloviansk as examples of the concept.[6]
The Russian state has been described to use the vranyo concept for influence both domestically and in foreign policy.[9][10] Mark Galeotti, an expert on Russia, described the 2024 Russian presidential election as a "particularly good example" of vranyo. He said that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his inner circle had chosen 87% as the official level of support, while the level of actual support for Putin and the Russian invasion of Ukraine is much lower in Galeotti's view. Galeotti argues that people in Russia are "keeping their head down" due to state repression, with about half of the population trying to ignore what is happening."[11]
According to the Dutch military science journal Militaire Spectator, vranyo is not only ″deeply entrenched″ in Russian culture, but also within the Russian military.[12]
Horowitz writing for the Australian Institute of International Affairs said that vranyo plays an important role in defining the relationship between the Russian state and Russians.[8]
Vranyo at work
The term vranyo in Russian is applicable to the collective participation in deception. Thus, someone knowingly deceives others that they will meet monthly production goals, and colleagues hear this claim and know it to be false, but no one publicly considers it to be a lie. According to David Shulman, "[w]hen a co-worker claims to work incredibly hard but is lying and an observer knows that colleague is lying but does not expose the lie — that is vranyo. In subsequent chapters, workers demonstrate a strong inclination to vranyo. Vranyo occurs routinely in meetings..."[13][lower-alpha 2]
See also
Notes
- ↑ Inherited from Proto-Slavic *vьrati (as a verb, only preserved in Russian and Serbo-Croatian). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *werh₁- (“to speak”). Cognate with Script error: The function "langx" does not exist..
- ↑ Italic, absent in the source, added
References
- ↑ Schillinger, Liesl (23 February 2018). "McMaster Gives a Belated Russian Lesson". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 15 May 2025.
- ↑ Binyon, Michael (14 September 2018). "Novichok attack: Lies, damned lies and lies you don't expect anyone to believe". The Times. Archived from the original on 4 November 2025. Retrieved 4 November 2025. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Gorokhova, Elena (21 October 2011). "From Russia With Lies". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 May 2025.
- ↑ Murray, Marilyn (15 May 2025). "Why Lying Has Become a National Pastime". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 15 May 2025.
- ↑ Bermel, Neil (6 March 2025). "Ukraine war: 'vranyo' – Russian for when you lie and everyone knows it, but you don't care". The Conversation. Retrieved 15 May 2025.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Rachlin, Samuel (20 March 2015). "Propaganda and the Russian Art of Lying". lrt.lt. Retrieved 29 September 2025.
- ↑ Shapiro, T. Rees (25 May 2011). "Vadim Medish, AU emeritus professor and expert on Soviet history, dies at 86". The Washington Post. Retrieved 29 September 2025.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Horowitz, Theodore (20 September 2023). "Vranyo: Questions We Need to Ask To Understand Russian State Media". Australian Institute of International Affairs. Retrieved 9 November 2025.
- ↑ Best, Matthew (13 August 2024). "From Russia With Lies". Open Canada. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
- ↑ Horowitz, Theodore; Murrell, Xanthe; Sussex, Dr Matthew; Carstensen, Eric (20 September 2023). "Vranyo: Questions We Need to Ask To Understand Russian State Media". Australian Institute of International Affairs. Retrieved 19 May 2025.
- ↑ "Putin's war in Ukraine – and at home – Association of European Journalists". Association of European Journalists – United Kingdom. 21 March 2024. Retrieved 18 June 2025.
- ↑ Kamphuis, Christian (13 May 2022). "Vranyo". Militaire Spectator. Retrieved 7 November 2025.
- ↑ Shulman, David (2006). From Hire to Liar: The Role of Deception in the Workplace. Ithaka and London: ILR Press. p. 79. ISBN 978-0-8014-4473-9. Search this book on
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