If it were up to Russian propagandist Dmitri Kiselyov, the world would be on the brink of nuclear war. At least, that was the message that the well-known television host proclaimed in his slick, full-length show at the end of December News of the Week, broadcast on Russian state television. While the West was preparing for the Christmas season, the 67-year-old presenter pulled hard from leather with his hard-ironic smile. “It’s dead simple. The US and NATO must withdraw from our borders. Otherwise, we will, figuratively speaking, ‘roll up’ their borders and create equally unacceptable risks. If you put a gun to our head, we react the same way,” Kiselov said.
For weeks now, the Russian state press has been working overtime to play up public opinion in the heated row over Ukraine and NATO.
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Also this week, in which Russia, the US and NATO are finally sitting down at the table in Geneva, the Kremlin propagandists are on the fence. They spare no time to denounce the ‘Russophobic’ reporting of Western colleagues and to convince Russians of the military threat called NATO. “There is no reason to be optimistic,” argued presenter Olga Skabejeva Tuesday in her daily news program 60 minutes. “The Americans have rejected as many as two of the Russian demands.” Her voice was dripping with indignation as her ever-heavily made-up eyes blazed into the cameras.
Ominous anticipation
Still, the volume of the rhetoric seems turned down a little bit. Like the rest of the world, the Russian state press is waiting to see what turn the diplomatic talks will take. And what interpretation they should give to this from their clients in the Kremlin. There too, the PR strategy in recent days has been one of ominous anticipation and emphatic pessimism. Like an angry parent whose child threatens to go wrong again at any moment.
In this uncertain and explosive situation, the crisis in Kazakhstan presented the media with an unexpected opportunity to score points with the Russian public.
The Kremlin, which this week sent a peacekeeping force under the flag of the regional security organization CSTO, gave a clear direction in this regard. President Putin harshly blamed the violence among the population on “foreign terror groups” that wanted to carry out an attack on the Kazakh state. „This was not the first attempt at foreign interference in our [sic] state, and certainly not the last,” Putin said menacingly during a video conference on Tuesday. “We’ve shown that we don’t allow our homes to be messed up and we don’t allow color revolutions.” In one effort, he made a connection with the Majdan uprising in Ukraine in 2013.
And so the state media worked overtime to denounce the alleged ‘terrorists’ – ten thousand Kazakhstani were arrested during the protests, according to the latest reports – and to proclaim victory over the successful Russian intervention.
Russians are not naive, the majority knows very well that they are being presented with untruths
Alexei Levinson opinion agency Levada
But what do the Russians themselves think about the geopolitical media violence that is being poured out on them? Opinion polls last month appeared to have shown Kiselyov and his followers to be successful. Half of Russians blamed NATO and the West for tensions over Ukraine in December. 16 percent saw Ukraine itself as the instigator of the problems. This was revealed in the latest poll by the independent Russian opinion agency Levada.
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According to Aleksej Levinson, who has worked at Levada for decades, there are important nuances to be added to these figures. For example, Russian propaganda focuses mainly on the older generations who watch TV, who are also the main supporters of the Kremlin. “Russians are not naive, the majority knows very well that they are being presented with untruths,” Levinson says by telephone. “In addition, Russian young people are much more critical, they get their information from the internet.”
According to Levinson, Russians’ opinion of the West has fluctuated widely since the Soviet years. “There is a lot of negativity, especially now, but there is also a desire to maintain friendly relations with America.”
Which way the meter will go this week, according to him, depends on Putin and the course of the talks. “And the way in which the people of Russia are presented the outcome.” In short, after today it is the turn of the state press again. Under the inspiring leadership of its stars Kiselyov and Skabejeva.
Also read this report: Ukrainians are no longer shocked by the message that the Russians are coming
A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of January 12, 2022
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