With the word “invasion” banned, the term “special military operation in Ukraine” is used by presenters and reporters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the target of mockery and questions about his mental health, with a media conference edited in a bid to show he is in what the reporter describes as an “inadequate condition”.
Frequent reports are broadcast by Russian state TV’s chief war correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny, who won national fame during the conflict in Syria, and is embedded with Russian troops outside Kyiv.
The actions of Ukraine are “slowing down the advance of Russian troops but won’t stop it”, he declared emphatically in a report.
While drawing conclusions about public opinion in Russia is currently hazardous, a poll last week by Russian pollster VTsIOM – seen as sympathetic to the government – said that 71 per cent of Russians support the invasion and the number was rising.
“Not everyone in Russia understands what is going on,” said Kadri Liik, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
“Russia’s information space was very tightly controlled already and now it has become even more so,” she added.
LIKE “IN PRISON”
Other shows echo the message of the news programmes, notably the programmes hosted by notorious presenters Vladimir Solovyov and Dmitry Kiselyov, both on the EU sanctions list.
Kiselyov, who even in 2014 famously warned that Russia could turn the US to “radioactive ash”, presents the weekly Sunday show Vesti Nedeli (News of the Week) but is also the deputy head of Russian state TV VGTRK and one of the most powerful figures in Russian media.
“Our submarines are capable of firing 500 nuclear warheads to guarantee the destruction of the USA and all NATO countries,” he declared after Putin ordered nuclear forces to move to combat readiness.
One of Solovyov’s guests on a recent edition of his debate show was the editor-in-chief of state-run international channel RT Margarita Simonyan, who argued that Russia should adopt an approach similar to China in banning access to foreign social media.
“We allowed into our country – years ago – an alien army – we allowed army bases to be set up in the name of this Facebook and things like that. And now we are surprised that this foreign army is shooting at us,” she said.
In this climate, Russia’s best known independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta – whose editor-in-chief was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year – has now said it would be removing archive content on Ukraine from its website so as not to fall foul of the new law.
“I am in shock not just about the news but the news about the news,” said Putin’s jailed opponent Alexei Navalny through his social media channels.
“Soon you (Russians) will have the same access to information as I do in prison. In other words – nothing.”
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