After the uprising at the Capitol was widely endorsed as a ‘peaceful protest’, Kremlin-controlled propagandists found themselves in a difficult situation to condemn massive protests that shocked Russia last weekend over the jail term. of opposition activist Alexei Navalny. After being poisoned by a nerve agent, Navalny was treated in Germany. Immediately upon his return to Russia, he was arrested.
Following Navalny’s fears at the airport, his team released a damning video alleging that a huge $ 1.37 billion sea palace had been built for Putin, which was reportedly funded by the Russian president’s aides and in Navalny’s video is described as’ the biggest bribe in history. Tens of thousands of people across Russia marched to express their deep dissatisfaction with Putin’s leadership and their indignation was palpable. Protesters demanded Navalny’s release, saying “Putin is a thief” and “Freedom to Navalny.” More than 3,000 people have been detained by police across the country.
Appears on the state channel Russia-1 Show Saturday Vesti, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned the actions of the US Embassy in Moscow for merely publishing a map of the planned protests and urging US citizens to avoid these routes for the sake of their own safety. Since the area of the Kremlin was on the list of places to be, Zakharova concluded that the US Embassy was advertising a run on the Kremlin ‘. She thought aloud, “What was that? A call to action? An assignment? Motivation? Zakharova calls it America’s interference in Russia’s internal affairs, with a blunt indifference to the fact that the Russian government – controlled media recently described the storming of the US Capitol as an appropriate, peaceful course of action.
While Russian government officials and Kremlin-controlled state media have condemned domestic protests, riots in the United States have been approved with Trump. Evgeny Popov, host of the Russian state television program 60 minutes, described the Capitol rioters repeatedly as “unarmed, peaceful protesters” and mocked the use of the National Guard to protect U.S. lawmakers from possible attacks in the future. In the same show, Andrey Isaev, vice-president of Putin’s United Russia party, described one of the rioters, Ashli Babbitt, as a ‘female veteran who was shot simply for breaking a glass.’ Babbitt was fatally shot by police as she tried to break into the Capitol by climbing through a broken window. Isaev began saying that Babbitt was shot while ‘storming the Capitol’, but quickly caught himself and stammered uncomfortably, referring to the event as a ‘riot’. Isaev condemned the US authorities for their alleged brutality towards the rioters, although most participants were able to leave the scene before being arrested days or even weeks later. Despite the fact that police brutality was notorious in Russia, Isaev praised the Russian police insignificantly for their ‘humane’ treatment of protesters, urging ordinary citizens to praise God for being in such a friendly and democratic nation as Russia was born ‘.
‘After the storm of the Capitol, several Russian-speaking individuals admitted in Doudnik’s videos that they were on camera ‘in the front rows’ of the mob that had violated the Capitol. ”
“Whataboutism” is an art form in Russia. Navalny’s condemnatory statement of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s billion-dollar palace at sea was met with Putin’s unconvincing denial and followed repeated references by Russian state media to Navalny, “eating lobster and drinking champagne.” Similarly, reports of Russian police brutality during Saturday’s protests are repeatedly underestimated, as the state media has attempted to overshadow it by broadcasting clips from marches and protests elsewhere in the world. No matter the palace, look at these crayfish. Forget the oppression, it’s getting worse abroad. Reject the evidence from your eyes and ears and learn to love the Motherland.
Appears on the program Studio 5 on TV channel Russia-24, Maria Zakharova accuses Navalny and his supporters of lying to the people. She told anchor Stas Natanzon: ‘The real victims are the people who were lied to. People have suffered from false information, under disinformation, due to lies that are not only spread on the internet but also on the platforms of American digital businesses: American social media and American video hosting. Zakharova intended to diminish the motivation of the Russian protests, but unknowingly described the avalanche of disinformation that led to the violent events on January 6 at the Capitol.
Of course, Russia not only benefited from the divisive rhetoric of former US President Donald Trump and the devastating events it caused, but also took an active part in spreading Trump’s ‘Big Lie’ about the alleged election fraud. The Kremlin’s whistleblowers have unjustifiably claimed that millions of dead voters and illegal immigrants voted illegally for Joe Biden. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov mocked the credibility of the votes by mail. Russian state media dutifully repeated Trump’s lies about a ‘stolen election’ and spread information on January 6 about the planned ‘Stop the Steal’ rally. These reports were heard not only in Russia but also in the United States, where Russian-speaking influencers actively spread the same lies and encouraged other Americans to participate in the official result of the US presidential election.
On his way to Washington, DC, Russian-speaking blogger Steve Doudnik likened the storming of the Capitol to the Russians driving to Berlin in World War II tanks. He said: “I hope everyone will be alive again.” Doudnik’s videos posted in the days before the uprising have the title: “The first stop before the fight,” “We’re going to visit Mike Pence,” and “Tomorrow is day X.” After the storm of the Capitol, several Russian-speaking individuals admitted in Doudnik’s videos that they were “in the front rows” of the mob that had violated 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 ‘carried into the Capitol’ by his followers to stay in power. ‘It’s so insulting,’ Doudnik said with great disappointment, ‘this crowd could have overthrown Washington and taken power into its own hands. People were determined. In other videos, he unbelievably complained that Trump could have arrested the crowd of Democrats, but for some reason never followed. Doudnik added: ‘And do not believe, there was no antifa, no Black Lives Matter. We did not see any of them there. ”
Shortly afterwards, Doudnik and other Russian speakers were welcomed on Russian state television, where – contrary to categorical allegations in their own videos – they blamed antifa and not Trump supporters for the storm on the Capitol. Their disappointment with the far-reaching conclusion of the uprising was shared by Russian Duma deputy Alexei Zhuravlyov. Appear on 60 minutes, Zhuravlyov was delighted with the idea that American blood was wasting, and only regrets that Trump did not drive the uprising to the point of overthrowing the result of the presidential election. “Trump cracked his pants,” Zhuravlyov angrily suspected.
The circle of propaganda was now complete. Inspired by Trump’s false allegations and rhetoric, amply reinforced by Russian state media, Russian-speakers in the United States took part in the unsuccessful uprising that deeply wounded American democracy – and subsequently returned an infusion of fresh disinformation to Moscow, as ‘eyewitnesses’. And first-hand participants. But their claims about ubiquitous ‘antifa’ could easily have been unleashed, and now Russian propagandists have switched to another conspiracy theory. Finally with some republicans, they claimed the storming of the Capitol was a “false flag” operation designed to discredit former President Trump. In perfect harmony with the GOP, Russian Senator Andrey Klimov claims that the riots in the Capitol were “like a theatrical performance” aimed at helping President-elect Joe Biden and harming Trump.
While domestic protests have been widely condemned, the events in the United States have been viewed and portrayed through a very different lens, especially in light of the background between the rioters of Trump and the Russian state media. The contradiction between the way these protests were treated in Moscow exposed the new depths of hypocrisy.
Russian government officials quickly blamed the “specialists abroad” for “organizing unauthorized rallies in Russia.” Andrey Klimov, chairman of the commission of the Federation Council for the Protection of State Sovereignty and Prevention of Interference in Russian Home Affairs, claims that the protests were not inspired by the domestic opposition, but by foreign interference and ‘the actions of foreign states’. and alleged calls for action “on foreign digital platforms and messengers”, citing Navalny’s Twitter posts about the upcoming protests, as well as viral posts by his supporters on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.
Meanwhile, Russian-speaking influencers in the United States have announced that they are “going to hide” through their most controversial positions in support of former President Trump after services such as Telegram, as well as Russian social media networks V Contacts and Odnoklassnikiand urges their followers to do the same, while explicitly acknowledging that Russian social media accounts are heavily monitored by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). In one of his videos, Doudnik casually remarks that he is being watched by the FSB rather than the FBI.
Meanwhile, Russian state media figures tried to distance Russia from any interference in the US Capitol attack, even as they tilted to domestic protesters, alluding to the fact that Biden’s government should be punished for supporting Navalny. Studio 5 anchor Stas Natanzon asked Zakharova, spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry: “If the United States even had the suspicion that someone from the Russian embassy was in contact or was helping Trump supporters in their activities, our diplomats and officials would have been suspended immediately. Is it possible for us to evict the US officials who are in contact with the organizers of the protests? “Zakharova replied, ‘I’d rather not answer, we’re just getting started.’