After widely supporting the insurrection at the Capitol as a “peaceful protest,” Kremlin-controlled propagandists were in a difficult situation trying to condemn the mass demonstrations that shook Russia last weekend to protest the imprisonment of the Opposition activist Alexei Navalny. After being poisoned by Russian intelligence agents with a nervous agent, Navalny was treated in Germany. Immediately after his return to Russia, he was arrested.
Following Navalny’s arrest at the airport, his team released a condemning video alleging that a huge maritime palace was built for Putin for $ 1.37 billion, allegedly funded by the president’s associates. Russian and described in Navalny’s video as “the biggest bribe in history.” Tens of thousands of people across Russia marched to express their deep dissatisfaction with Putin’s leadership, and his outrage was palpable. Protesters demanded Navalny’s release, chanting “Putin is a thief” and “Freedom to Navalny.” More than 3,000 people were detained by police across the country.
Appears on the state media channel Russia-1 show Saturday Dress, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned the actions of the U.S. embassy in Moscow because she simply posted a map of the planned protests, urging U.S. citizens to avoid such routes by your own safety. Since the Kremlin area was included in the list of places to avoid, Zakharova came to the conclusion that the U.S. embassy was announcing “a race in the Kremlin.” He reflected aloud, “What was that? A call to action? An instruction? Motivation? “Zakharova called it America’s interference in Russia’s internal affairs, with obtuse indifference to the fact that the Russian government-controlled media recently described the assault on the U.S. Capitol as a peaceful action. adequate.
While Russian government officials and Kremlin-controlled state media condemned the national protests, pro-Trump riots in the United States received their full approval. Evgeny Popov, the host of the Russian state television program 60 minutes, he repeatedly described the Capitol insurgents as “peaceful and unarmed protesters” and mocked the use of the National Guard to protect U.S. lawmakers from possible future attacks. In the same program, Andrey Isaev, vice president of Putin’s United Russia party, described one of the insurgents, Ashli Babbitt, as a “female veteran who was shot simply for breaking a glass.” Babbitt was fatally shot by police as she tried to enter the Capitol by climbing through a broken glass at the door. Isaev began to say that Babbitt was shot while “storming the Capitol,” but he quickly grabbed it and stammered awkwardly, referring to the event as mere “discomfort.” Isaev condemned U.S. authorities for their alleged brutality against riot police, although most participants were able to leave the crime scene before being arrested days, or even weeks, later. Although police brutality was notoriously common in Russia, Isaev proceeded to falsely exalt Russian police for their “humane” treatment of protesters, and urged everyday citizens to “praise God for being born into such a kind and democratic like Russia “.
“After the assault on the Capitol, several Russian-speaking individuals from Doudnik’s videos admitted to the camera that they were “in the front rows” of the crowd violating the Capitol. ”
“Whataboutism” is an art form in Russia. Navalny’s condemned exhibition on the thousands of dollars’ maritime palace by Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Putin’s negative convictions and followed repeated references by Russian state media to Navalny’s “eating lobsters and drinking champagne.” Similarly, reports of Russian police brutality during Saturday’s protests were repeatedly downplayed as state media tried to eclipse them by airing clips of rallies and demonstrations elsewhere in the world. No matter the palace, look at these locusts. Forget oppression, things are even worse abroad. Reject the tests of your eyes and ears and learn to love your homeland.
Appears in the program Study 5 on the state television channel Russia-24, Maria Zakharova accused Navalny and her supporters of lying to people. Stas Natanzon told the anchor: “The real victims are the people who have been lied to. People have suffered false information, misinformation, because of lies that have spread not only on the Internet, but especially in the American digital business platforms: US social media and US video hosting ”. Zakharova wanted to mock the motivation for the Russian protests, but unwittingly described the avalanche of misinformation that led to the January 6 violence at the Capitol.
Because, of course, Russia not only benefited from the divisive rhetoric of former U.S. President Donald Trump and the destructive events it provoked, but also actively participated in spreading Trump’s “Big Lie” about the alleged electoral fraud. Kremlin spokesmen unfoundedly claimed that millions of dead voters and illegal immigrants voted for Joe Biden illegally. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov mocked the reliability of the postal vote. Russian state media diligently repeated Trump’s lies about a “stolen election” and spread information about the planned rally for “Stop the Steal” on January 6th. These reports were heard not only in Russia, but also in the United States, where Russian-speaking influencers were actively spreading the same falsehoods and encouraging other Americans to participate in challenging the official outcome of the U.S. presidential election.
On his way to Washington, DC, Russian-speaking blogger Steve Doudnik compared the Capitol storm to Russians going to Berlin with tanks in World War II. He said, “I hope everyone comes back alive.” Doudnik’s videos released in the days leading up to the uprising were titled “The First Stop Before the Battle,” “Let’s Visit Mike Pence,” and “Tomorrow is the X-Day.” After the assault on the Capitol, several Russian-speaking individuals from Doudnik’s videos admitted to the camera that they were “in the front rows” of the crowd violating the Capitol. One by one, they complained about Trump’s failure to bring events to the desired conclusion, in which the Dear Leader would be “brought to the Capitol” by his followers, to stay in power. “It’s so insulting,” Doudnik said with great disappointment, “that crowd could have overthrown Washington and taken power into their own hands. People were determined.” In other videos, he complained incredulously that Trump could have arrested a crowd of Democrats, but for some reason he never followed suit. Doudnik added: “And don’t believe the nonsense, there was no antifa, no Black Lives Matter. We didn’t see any there. “
Shortly afterwards, Doudnik and other Russian-speakers were picked up on Russian state television, where — contrary to the categorical claims in their own videos — they blamed the antifa and not Trump supporters for storming the Capitol. His disappointment at the English conclusion of the uprising was shared by Russian Duma MP Alexei Zhuravlyov. Appears 60 minutes, Zhuravlyov rejoiced at the thought of American bloodshed and lamented only that Trump did not push the insurgency to the point of overturning the presidential election result. “Trump got in his pants,” Zhuravlyov assumed in tone.
The circle of propaganda was already complete. Inspired by Trump’s false statements and rhetoric, generously amplified by the Russian state media, Russian speakers in the United States participated in the unsuccessful insurgency that deeply hurt U.S. democracy and subsequently delivered an infusion of new misinformation back in Moscow, as “eyewitnesses” and first-hand participants.But their claims about the ubiquitous “antifa” were easily refuted, and now Russian propagandists have moved on to another conspiracy theory. In step with some Republicans, claimed that the assault on the Capitol was a “false flag” operation designed to discredit former President Trump. In perfect harmony with the Republican Party, Russian Senator Andrey Klimov claimed that the Capitol riots “resembled a theatrical performance” aimed at helping President-elect Joe Biden and harming Trump.
Although domestic protests were widely condemned, events in the United States were viewed and represented through a completely different goal, especially in light of the secondary channel between pro-Trump riots and Russian state media. . The inconsistency between the way these protests were covered in Moscow exposed the new depths of hypocrisy.
Russian government officials quickly blamed “specialists from foreign countries” for “organizing unauthorized rallies in Russia.” Andrey Klimov, who chairs the committee of the Federation Council for the Protection of State Sovereignty and the Prevention of Interference in Russia’s Internal Affairs, said the protests were not inspired by the internal opposition, but by foreign interference, which condemned “the actions of foreign states.” and alleged calls to action “made on foreign digital platforms and messengers,” in reference to Navalny’s Twitter posts about the upcoming protests, as well as viral posts from his followers on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram.
Meanwhile, Russian-speaking influencers in the United States announced that they were “hiding” by moving their most controversial sites in support of former President Trump to services such as Telegram, as well as Russian social media networks V Contact i Odnoklassniki, and urging its followers to do the same, although they explicitly acknowledge that Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) strongly controls Russian social media accounts. In one of his videos, Doudnik casually pointed out that he would rather be seen by the FSB than the FBI.
Meanwhile, even while attacking national protesters, Russian state media figures tried to distance Russia from any interference in the attack on the US Capitol and hinted that the Biden administration should be punished for supporting and Navalny. Study 5 anchor Stas Natanzon asked Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry: “If the United States had even the slightest suspicion that someone from the Russian embassy was in contact or helping Trump supporters in their activities, our diplomats and officials would have been immediately expelled. Is it possible that we expelled American officials who keep in touch with the organizers of the protests? “Zakharova replied shyly:” I’d rather not respond, we’re just getting started. “