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Putin's TV propagandists loved Trump's CNN Town Hall, but otherwise their mood was dour [1]
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Date: 2023-05-14
Putin's puppet propagandists (Courtesy official website of the Republic of Poland)
Vladimir Putin’s TV propaganda puppets have been in a pretty dour mood lately. They have had to deal with panic among Russian military bloggers about Ukrainian advances near Bakhmut, Britain’s delivery of long-rang Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine, and Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin’s off-the-rail diatribes against the failures of Russian military leaders.
And the even bigger cloud hanging overhead is what will be the impact of Ukraine’s looming counter-offensive fueled by the influx of modern battle tanks and other advanced equipment from the West.
But there was one bright spot in the otherwise bleak environment thanks to CNN’s Town Hall with twice impeached and once indicted (so far) former President Donald Trump.
Trump wouldn’t say which side he thinks should prevail in Russia’s war with Ukraine nor would he commit to sending aid to Ukraine as president. He demurred from describing Putin as a war criminal but did call the Russian leader a “smart guy” who “made a tremendous mistake.”
That was music to the ears of Putin’s chief TV propagandist Vladimir Solovyov who on a recent broadcast said:
“Trump is really good and that’s why … others fear him so much. What I really like is that unlike these idiots, Trump understands what kind of world he lives in, and how carefully you have to watch your words, no matter how hard the journalist tried to prompt him, `Who do you want to win?’ But you can’t break Trump.”
The show then aired the clip showing CNN host Kaitlan Collins asking Trump about Ukraine with an overdubbed Russian translation. Solovyov concluded: “But Trump is a smarty.”
(Solovyov’s remarks about Trump open this clip provided by Julia Davis, who monitors Russian state media. It is followed by extensive comments from the head of RT Margarita Simonyan which will be discussed later).
x Head of RT Margarita Simonyan suggests sending "Petrov & Boshirov" or their colleagues to Britain, in retaliation for delivering “Storm Shadow” cruise missiles to Ukraine. She wonders whether Russia can protect its territories.
Blocked by the Russians on YouTube, watch it here⤵️ pic.twitter.com/cqRdeWGb1o — Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) May 12, 2023
Now let’s take a step back and look at how Russian propaganda works. The prime objective is to avoid any direct criticism of Putin that holds him accountable for how badly the “special military operation” (that is the war) in Ukraine is going. That means raising the deflector shields whenever the incoming fire hits too close to home.
And the alarm sirens are blaring as Ukraine readies its counter-offensive which could be a disaster for poorly equipped, demoralized Russian conscripts.
Meduza wrote in a story published on May 2:
In the document, the Russian authorities tell reporters “not to downplay expectations for the NATO-supported counteroffensive that Ukraine has announced,” and not to assert that “Kyiv is unprepared for a ‘counteroffensive.’” On the contrary, says the guide, pro-Kremlin outlets should emphasize that Western countries are providing Kyiv with weapons and supporting Ukraine in various other ways. Two sources close to the Putin administration told Meduza that there’s a simple explanation for why Moscow wants this kind of coverage: If the offensive is a failure, [the Russian authorities] will be able to say that [Russia’s] army adeptly repelled an extremely powerful attack. The value of this victory will increase significantly. If Ukraine, with the help of weapons from the U.S. and Europe, is successful and takes territory, the loss will be explainable, too; after all, the West has focused a tremendous amount of effort on the front, but its successes — when compared to those efforts — have been very modest. In other words, overall, the Russian army has held its own.
And those guidelines are exactly what Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the Russian state-controlled broadcaster RT, followed in the clip posted above.
She began by claiming that the war would be over in days if the West stopped helping Ukraine.
“My friends, we are not fighting against Ukraine. Ukraine stopped existing 1 ½ years ago. We are fighting against the entire NATO and then some, against more than 50 countries. ...”
She then acknowledged the “bad news” about the long-range missiles that Britain is delivering to Ukraine. simonyan said she’s “disheartened” that the missiles could reach her home region of Krasnodar in southern Russia. just across the Kerch Strait from Crimea.
Discussing how Russia should retaliate against Britain, Simonyan then made a bad joke, referencing an infamous poisoning incident that occurred in Salisbury, England, in 2018.
"I could make a joke here that my old acquaintances, Boshirov and Petrov are probably missing Britain and haven't seen its wonderful spires for too long.
"Perhaps it's time for them or for their colleagues, whether real or imaginary, to pay another visit there."
Novichok poisonings of Sergei Skripal, a Russian double-agent, and his daughter Yulia. The men explained their presence in Salisbury on the day of the poisonings by saying they were tourists interested in seeing the spire of Salisbury Cathedral. The Skripals survived, but a British woman died after coming into contact with the bottle that had contained the Novichok. Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov , are the Russian nationals named and charged over the 2018The men explained their presence in Salisbury on the day of the poisonings by saying they were tourists interested in seeing the spire of Salisbury Cathedral. The Skripals survived, but a British woman died after coming into contact with the bottle that had contained the Novichok.
Then, without mentioning any names, Simonyan took to task those who are dividing “our patriotic camp” by believing they “can help through criticism.”
“They will help Ukraine through this criticism … I am talking about public criticism without any actions to improve the situation. … This is an unbecoming way to act, especially if you are trying to demonstrate your love for the motherland, perhaps fighting against 50-plus countries.” “I wake up every morning and can’t believe that we’re withstanding the pressure of the most powerful military might in the world, but we’re standing strong. .. Sometimes we have some blunders, but who doesn’t? … If you criticize, do it in your kitchen, because what we make public is being incredibly exaggerated by the other side. It works for them, for their audience, for their certainty in their victory, and undermines our audiences certainty in our victory.”
So you can sense the unease among Putin’s propagandists — Simonyan even mentioned that she and Solovyov might be targeted for attack. There have been several bombings targeting pro-war Russian propagandists, most recently a May 6 car bombing that seriously wounded nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin and killed his driver.
And it just took reports that Ukrainian forces had made some successful counterattacks near Bakhmut to cause a meltdown of the so-called “iron doll of Putin TV,” Olga Skabayeva , who is known for her shocking rants as host of the political talk show 60 Minutes on Russia-1 TV.
“i would like to say separately that we are in no way spreading panic, do not get discouraged. Discouragement is a sin. Victory will be ours. No one doubts that. but we have to remain sober and adequate.
“The situation is extremely serious. There has probably never been such a serious situation. It is a war and we are not at war with Ukraine. We are at war with NATO.”
x "The situation is very serious, it has never been that serious" - Skabeyeva is very worried about the situation on the frontlines. pic.twitter.com/WxyHpiOEWB — Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) May 12, 2023 Notice how what was once the “special military operation’ in Ukraine is now being referred to by Russia’s chief propagandists as “a war with NATO” as the tide has turned. And remember how the Putin regime’s guidelines instructed propaganda outlets not to downplay expectations for the Ukrainian counteroffensive. Skabayeva brought on her show the Debbie Downer of Russian military analysts, retired Col. Mikhail Khodaryonok. In February 2022, before the start of the war, in Russia’s independent Military Review, criticized "enthusiastic hawks and hasty cuckoos" for claiming that Russia would easily win a war against Ukraine. He concluded: "An armed conflict with Ukraine is not in Russia's national interests." In May 2022, he went on Skabayeva’s show and warned that “the situation (for Russia) will clearly get worse” as Ukraine receives additional military support from the West. He also noted the “high morale” of Ukrainian troops “to defend their motherland.” So Khodaryonok was back on Skabayeva’s show last week to give a sobering assessment of the impact of Britain’s Shadow Storm missiles which he said have a range of up to 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) and can carry a powerful 460-kilogram (1,000-pound) warhead. He it has the range to reach such Russian cities as Sochi, Rostov-on-Don, and Krasnodar. He said the delay to Ukraine’s counteroffensive “is linked solely to the arrival of additional high-precision weaponry.” “In my opinion Ukraine’s offensive operation will begin with a massive strike using that high-precision weaponry as deep as possible on all possible sites in Russia, primarily infrastructure sites. Skabayeva then cut him off by remarking: “You know how to instill optimism and hope.” To which Khodaryonok replied: “It’s better for us in this respect to be safe than sorry, and prepare for the worst case scenario.” x Remember Mikhail Khodaryonok, the former Russian colonel who gave a brutally honest assessment of the invasion a few months in before later making an abrupt u-turn?
Today he warns that Ukraine’s counter-offensive will begin with mass missile strikes on targets deep inside Russia pic.twitter.com/zDwB07MYG4 — Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) May 11, 2023 But there are Russian propagandists who resort to the usual bluff and bluster to make outlandish threats even though Russian forces have so far failed to capture Bakhmut. Military pundit Vladislav Shurygin told the political talk show Vremya Pokazhet that the Kremlin must retaliate against Britain over any use of the recently supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles by Ukrainian forces. “We need to make a government statement from our leadership that as soon as the first Storm Shadow missile is used on Russian territory, including Crimea, we will nullify all UK infrastructure - all cables, all internet cables,” Shurygin said. And then there’s Anton Krasovsky, who might be considered the Tucker Carlson of Putin’s propagandists. Krasovsky had been RT’s Director of Broadcasting, but he got suspended last October when he called for the drowning and burning of Ukrainian children. Simonyan even condemned Krasovsky's comments as "wild and disgusting.” In February, a Ukrainian court sentenced Krasovsky to five years in prison after he was found guilty in absentia of inciting a genocide of Ukrainians. Krasovsky apologized and his show “The Antonyms” is now back on RT. On May 10, Julia Davis reported on an interview that Krasovsky conducted w ith Akim Apachev, an ethnic Russian propagandist and musician who is originally from the now-occupied Ukrainian city of Melitopol. Imagine a genocidal and maniacal Russian version of Kanye West, and you’ve got Apachev. He’s written a rap song that became a hit in Russia titled “Summer and Crossbows” glorifying the mercenary Wagner Group. He defended Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin as a man who “can say what everyone is thinking but afraid to say.” What’s chilling is how casually these two talk about killing millions of Ukrainians. “We are at war against an idea,” Apachev said. “We aren’t at war against Ukraine or the Ukrainian people. … Yes the bearers of this idea we have to destroy, to kill all bearers of the Ukrainian national idea.” He estimated that about 10 percent of the Ukrainian population are passionate believers in this idea “who should be killed and the rest will become Russians again.” He added: “We have to kill them, but not out of hatred. We should kill them out of love for our children because this will ensure our survival.” Later Apachev boasted that in occupied Melitopol, “we turned Ukrainian children into Russian ones, only one year earlier they yelled ‘Glory to Ukraine.’”
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