Artykuł omawia wpływ katastrofy czarnobylskiej na rozpad Związku Radzieckiego. Energetyka jądrowa miała być ukoronowaniem osiągnięć radzieckiej nauki i techniki. Czarnobyl skompromitował jednak sektor atomowy i podważył autorytet czołowych uczonych. Katastrofa i utajnienie przez Moskwę informacji na jej temat doprowadziły do erozji zaufania do władz i nauki jako takiej. Jednocześnie głasnost sprzyjała rozprzestrzenianiu informacji i plotek na temat katastrofy. Zaniepokojenie stanem środowiska i troska o zdrowie stały się nośnymi hasłami ruchów niepodległościowych. Oburzeni zaniedbaniami po katastrofie byli zwłaszcza Ukraińcy, którzy w 1991 r. zagłosowali za secesją z ZSRR.

The participation of the Catholic Church in the systemic changes in Poland is unquestionable. The significant role of church hierarchs, middle- and lower-level pastors in accelerating the erosion of the communist dictatorship in Poland over the years, and especially in the last decade of the Polish People’s Republic, is unquestionable. Analogous processes of political, social, economic and cultural changes taking place in neighboring countries where Catholicism was the dominant religion were also stimulated to a large extent by representatives of the clergy. However, the issue of the importance of the Orthodox Church in the Soviet Union for the systemic changes at the end of the 1980s remains slightly more complicated. Therefore, the article compares two powerful Churches, Catholic and Orthodox, from the point of view of analogy and diff erences in the role, influence and importance of these institutions for the collapse of both authoritarian systems.

This paper aims to shed light on the propaganda tool Russia has chosen to promote its imperial desire – the reconstruction of the Soviet Union. The research takes the Putin era, from the year 2000 to the present, as a timeframe. The data in this research was primarily a library-based study using primary research resources. The study uses a systemic method by approaching the post- Cold War era as a system impacted by Russia’s policies in the decision-making sphere. The primary research question: Is propaganda a tool for rebuilding the Soviet Union? The hypothesis: Russian propaganda serves as a strategic tool for fostering sentiments of unity and potential efforts to revive the appearance of the Soviet Union. A detailed description of the following questions helps provide tremendous insight into implementing the main question: What is Russia’s propaganda strategy? How does Russia’s disinformation and propaganda strategy operate in post-Soviet countries?