After broadly endorsing the Capitol uprising as a “ peaceful protest, ” Kremlin-controlled propagandists found themselves in a decent situation when they tried to condemn mass demonstrations that turned Russia upside down last weekend to protest against the imprisonment of opposition activist Alexei Navalny. After being poisoned with a nerve agent by Russian intelligence services, Navalny was treated in Germany. Immediately after returning to Russia, he was arrested.
Following Navalny’s detention at the airport, his team released a scathing video claiming that a massive seaside palace had been built for Putin at a cost of $ 1.37 billion, reportedly funded by the employees of the Russian President and described in Navalny’s video as ‘the greatest bribery in history’. Tens of thousands of people across Russia marched to express their deep discontent with Putin’s leadership and their outrage was palpable. Protesters demanded the release of Navalny, chanting, “Putin is a thief” and “Freedom for Navalny.” more than 3,000 people detained by the police.
Appear on state media channel Russia-1 show Saturday VestiRussian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned the actions of the US embassy in Moscow for simply publishing a map of the planned protests and urging US citizens to avoid those routes for the sake of their own safety. Since the Kremlin area was on the list of places to avoid, Zakharova concluded that the US embassy was promoting “a run on the Kremlin”. She thought out loud, ‘What was that? A call to action? An instruction? Motivation? ”Zakharova called it America’s interference in Russia’s internal affairs, with blunt indifference to the fact that the Russian government-controlled media recently described the storming of the Capitol as an appropriate, peaceful action.
While Russian government officials and Kremlin-controlled state media condemned domestic protests, pro-Trump riots in the United States received their full approval. Evgeny Popov, the host of the Russian state television program 60 minutes, repeatedly described the rioters in the Capitol as “unarmed, peaceful protesters” and derided the use of the National Guard to protect US lawmakers from possible future attacks. Andrey Isaev, deputy chairman of Putin’s United Russia party, who appeared on the same show, described one of the rioters, Ashli Babbitt, as a “female veteran shot simply for breaking a glass”. Babbitt was fatally shot by police when she tried to enter the Capitol by climbing through a broken window in the door. Isaev began to say that Babbitt was shot while “storming the Capitol,” but he quickly intervened and stammered clumsily, referring to the event as “unrest.” Isaev condemned the US authorities for their alleged cruelty to the rioters, although most of the participants were able to leave the scene of the crime before being arrested days or even weeks later. Despite police brutality being notoriously commonplace in Russia, Isaev went on to unfairly glorify the Russian police for their ‘humane’ treatment of protesters, urging ordinary citizens to ‘praise God for his birth in such a friendly and democratic nation like Russia ‘.
“After the storming of the Capitol, several Russian-speaking persons admitted to the camera in Doudnik’s videos that they were “in the front rows” of the crowd that entered the Capitol. “
Whataboutism is an art form in Russia. Navalny’s scathing revelation of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s billion dollar palace was answered with Putin’s inconclusive denials and followed repeated references from Russian state media that Navalny “eats lobsters and drinks champagne.” Likewise, reports of Russian police brutality during Saturday’s protests were repeatedly downplayed as the state media tried to overshadow them by broadcasting clips of rallies and demonstrations elsewhere in the world. Don’t mind the palace, look at these lobsters. Forget the oppression, it’s even worse abroad. Reject the evidence of your eyes and ears and learn to love the motherland.
Appear on the program Studio 5 on state television channel Russia-24, Maria Zakharova accused Navalny and his supporters of lying to the people. She told anchor Stas Natanzon, “The real victims are the people who have been lied to. People have suffered from false information, misinformation, from lies spread not only on the Internet, but especially on the platforms of American digital companies: American social media and American video hosting. Zakharova wanted to mock the motivation behind the Russian protests, but unwittingly described the avalanche of disinformation that led to the violent events of January 6 at the Capitol.
For Russia, of course, not only benefited from former US President Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric and the devastating events it caused, but took an active part in spreading Trump’s “Big Lie” about the alleged electoral fraud. The Kremlin’s mouthpieces groundlessly claimed that millions of dead voters and illegal immigrants voted unlawfully for Joe Biden. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov mocked the reliability of postal voting. Russian state media dutifully reiterated Trump’s lies about a “stolen election” and circulated information about the planned “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6. 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 contesting the official outcome of the US presidential election.
On his way to Washington, DC, Russian-speaking blogger Steve Doudnik compared the storming of the Capitol to the Russians driving into Berlin on tanks during World War II. He said, “I hope everyone comes back alive.” The videos of Doudnik posted in the days before the uprising were entitled, “The First Stop Before the Battle,” “We’re Going to Visit Mike Pence,” and “Tomorrow is Day X”. After the storming of the Capitol, several Russian-speaking persons admitted to the camera in Doudnik’s videos that they were “in the front rows” of the crowd that invaded the Capitol. One by one, they lamented Trump’s failure to bring events to their desired end, with the Best Leader being “ carried to the Capitol ” by his followers to remain in power. “It’s so insulting,” Doudnik said with great disappointment, “This crowd could have overthrown Washington and taken power. People were determined.” In other videos, he complained in disbelief that Trump could have arrested the masses of Democrats, but for some reason never complied. Doudnik added, “And don’t believe bullshit, there was no antifa, no Black Lives Matter. We have not seen them there. “
Soon after, Doudnik and other Russian speakers were welcomed on Russian state television, where – contrary to categorical claims in their own videos – they blamed the antifa and not Trump’s supporters for storming the Capitol. Their disappointment at the uprising’s inglorious outcome was shared by Russian State Duma deputy Alexei Zhuravlyov. Appear on 60 minutesZhuravlyov rejoiced at the thought of American blood being spilled and only regretted that Trump had not pushed the uprising to nullify the outcome of the presidential election. “Trump hacked his pants,” Zhuravlyov suspected grimly.
The circle of propaganda was now complete. Inspired by Trump’s false claims and rhetoric, generously bolstered by the Russian state media, Russian speakers in the United States took part in the failed uprising that seriously injured American democracy – then delivered an infusion of fresh disinformation straight back to Moscow, as ‘eyewitnesses’ ”And firsthand participants. But their claims about the ubiquitous “antifa” were easily debunked, and now Russian propagandists have turned to a different conspiracy theory. In lockstep with some Republicans, they claimed that the storming of the Capitol was a “false flag” operation intended to discredit former President Trump. In perfect harmony with the GOP, Russian Senator Andrei Klimov claimed that the Capitol riots “resembled a theater performance” designed to aid President-elect Joe Biden and harm Trump.
While domestic protests were widely condemned, events in the United States were viewed and portrayed through an entirely different lens, especially in light of the back channel between the pro-Trump rioters and the Russian state media. Incongruity in the way these protests in Moscow were handled exposed the new depths of hypocrisy.
Russian government officials were quick to blame “specialists from abroad” for “organizing unauthorized rallies in Russia.” Andrey Klimov, chairman of the Federation Council’s Committee for the Protection of State Sovereignty and Preventing Interference in Russia’s internal affairs, claimed that the protests were not motivated by the internal opposition, but by foreign interference, saying “ the actions of foreign states’ convict. and alleged calls for action “made on foreign digital platforms and messengers,” referring to Navalny’s Twitter posts about the upcoming protests, as well as viral posts from his supporters on TikTok, YouTube and Instagram.
Meanwhile, Russian-speaking influencers in the United States have announced that they are “going into hiding” by moving their most controversial posts in support of former President Trump to services such as Telegram, as well as Russian social media networks V Contact and Odnoklassniki, urging their followers to do the same, while explicitly acknowledging that Russian social media accounts are heavily controlled by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). In one of his videos, Doudnik mentioned in passing that he would rather be watched by the FSB than the FBI.
Meanwhile, Russian state media figures, while lashing out at domestic protesters, tried to distance Russia from any interference in the attack on the Capitol – hinting that the Biden government should be punished for supporting Navalny. Studio 5 onenchor Stas Natanzon asked Zakharova, the spokeswoman for the Russian State Department: “If the United States even suspected that someone from the Russian embassy was in contact or was helping Trump supporters in their activities, our diplomats and officials would immediately are turned off. Is it possible for us to expel those US officials who are in contact with the organizers of the protests? Zakharova timidly replied, “I would rather not answer, we are just starting.”