Having widely endorsed the Capitol insurrection as a “peaceful protest”, Kremlin-controlled propagandists found themselves in a difficult position trying to condemn the big demonstrations that rocked Russia last weekend to protest the arrest of opposition activist Alexei Navalny . After being poisoned with a nervous agent by Russian intelligence agents, Navalny was treated in Germany. Immediately after his return to Russia, he was arrested.
After Navalny’s apprehension at the airport, his team released a condemning video claiming that a huge $ 1.37 billion seaside palace was built for Putin, allegedly financed by Russian president’s associates 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 their indignation was palpable. The protesters demanded Navalny’s release, shouting “Putin is a thief” and “Freedom for Navalny.” More than 3,000 people have been detained by police across the country.
Appearing on state media channel Rossiya-1 exposure Saturday dress, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova condemned the actions of the United States Embassy in Moscow because she simply published a map of the planned protests, urging American citizens to avoid these routes for the sake of their own safety. As the Kremlin area was included in the list of places to avoid, Zakharova concluded that the United States Embassy was announcing “a run for the Kremlin”. She pondered aloud: “What was that? A call to action? An instruction? Motivation? “Zakharova called this America’s interference in Russia’s internal affairs, with obtuse indifference to the fact that the Russian government-controlled media recently described the takeover of the US Capitol as an appropriate peaceful action.
While Russian government officials and the Kremlin-controlled state media condemned domestic protests, pro-Trump disturbances in the United States were met with full approval. Evgeny Popov, presenter of the Russian state TV program 60 minutes, They repeatedly described Capitol protesters as “unarmed and peaceful protesters” and scoffed at the use of the National Guard to protect US lawmakers from possible future attacks. Appearing on the same program, Andrey Isaev, vice president of Putin’s United Russia party, described one of the protesters, Ashli Babbitt, as a “veteran who was shot just for breaking a glass”. Babbitt was fatally shot by the police while trying to enter the Capitol by climbing a broken window pane. Isaev began to say that Babbitt was shot while “attacking the Capitol”, but quickly stopped himself and stammered awkwardly, referring to the event as mere “agitation”. Isaev condemned the American authorities for his alleged brutality with the protesters, although most of the participants managed to get out of the crime scene before being arrested days, or even weeks, later. Although police brutality is notoriously commonplace in Russia, Isaev extolled the Russian police for their “humane” treatment of protesters, urging ordinary citizens “to praise God for being born in a nation as gentle and democratic as Russia”.
“After the invasion of the Capitol, several Russian-speaking individuals in Doudnik’s videos admitted on camera that they were “in the front rows” of the crowd that invaded the Capitol. “
“Whataboutism” is an art form in Russia. Navalny’s blunt denunciation of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s billion-dollar seaside palace was met with Putin’s unconvincing denials and followed with repeated Russian state media references to Navalny “eating lobsters and drinking champagne”. Likewise, reports of Russian police brutality during Saturday’s protests have been repeatedly downplayed as state media tried to overshadow them by showing clips of rallies and demonstrations in other parts of the world. No matter the palace, look at these lobsters. Forget oppression, things are even worse out there. Reject the evidence of your eyes and ears and learn to love your country.
Appearing in the program Studio 5 on the state TV channel Rossiya-24, Maria Zakharova accused Navalny and his supporters of lying to the people. She told anchor Stas Natanzon: “The real victims are the people they lied to. People have suffered from false information, misinformation, because of lies that have been disseminated not only on the Internet, but mainly on the platforms of American digital companies: American social media and video hosting in the United States ”. Zakharova intended to ridicule the motivation behind Russian protests, but he inadvertently described the avalanche of disinformation that led to the violent January 6 events on Capitol Hill.
For, of course, Russia has not only benefited from former US President Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric and the destructive events it has caused, but has also actively participated in the spread of Trump’s “Big Lie” on alleged electoral fraud. Kremlin spokesmen said without foundation that millions of dead voters and illegal immigrants voted illegally for Joe Biden. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov scoffed at the reliability of postal voting. Russian state media obediently repeated Trump’s lies about a “stolen election” and disseminated information about the planned “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6. These reports were heard not only in Russia, but 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 US presidential election.
On his way to Washington, DC, Russian-language blogger Steve Doudnik likened the invasion of the Capitol to the Russians entering Berlin in tanks in World War II. He said, “I hope everyone will come back alive.” Doudnik’s videos posted in the days before the insurrection were entitled “The first stop before the battle”, “Let’s visit Mike Pence” and “Tomorrow is the X day”. After the attack on the Capitol, several Russian-speaking individuals in Doudnik’s videos admitted on camera that they were “in the front rows” of the crowd that invaded 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 to the Capitol” by his followers, to remain in power. “It is an insult,” said Doudnik with great disappointment, “this crowd could have overthrown Washington and taken power in their hands. People were determined. In other videos, he complained incredulously that Trump could have arrested crowds of Democrats, but for some reason he never did. Doudnik added: “And don’t believe in bullshit, there was no antifa, no Black Lives Matter. We didn’t see any of them there. “
Shortly thereafter, Doudnik and other Russian speakers were received on Russian state television, where – contrary to categorical claims in their own videos – they blamed the antifa and not Trump’s supporters for breaking into the Capitol. His disappointment at the inglorious conclusion to the revolt was shared by Russian Duma deputy Alexei Zhuravlyov. Appearing in 60 minutes, Zhuravlyov rejoiced at the idea of American blood being spilled and only regretted that Trump did not lead the insurrection to the point of nullifying the result of the presidential election. “Trump shit in his pants,” Zhuravlyov assumed darkly.
The propaganda circle was now complete. Inspired by Trump’s false claims and rhetoric, generously amplified by Russian state media, Russian speakers in the United States participated in the unsuccessful uprising that deeply wounded American democracy – and later delivered an infusion of new disinformation back to Moscow, as “eyewitnesses” AND first-hand participants. But their claims about the ubiquitous “antifa” were easily debunked, and now Russian propagandists have moved on to another conspiracy theory. In sync with some republicans, they claimed that the attack 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 said that the riots on Capitol Hill “resembled a theatrical performance” that aimed to help President-elect Joe Biden and harm Trump.
Although domestic protests were widely condemned, events in the United States were viewed and portrayed through entirely different lenses, especially in light of the backchannel between pro-Trump rioters and Russian state media. The incongruity between the way these protests were covered in Moscow revealed the new depths of hypocrisy.
Russian government officials were quick to blame “experts from foreign countries” for “organizing unauthorized rallies in Russia”. Andrey Klimov, who chairs the Federation Council committee for the Protection of State Sovereignty and Prevention of Interference in Russia’s Internal Affairs, said the protests were inspired not by internal opposition, but by foreign interference, condemning “the actions of states foreigners “and alleged calls to 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 underground”, shifting their most controversial support posts from former President Trump to services like Telegramas well as Russian social media networks V Kontakte and Odnoklassniki, and urging his 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 noted that he would rather be watched by the FSB than by the FBI.
Meanwhile, while attacking domestic protesters, figures from the Russian state media tried to distance Russia from any meddling in the attack on the United States Capitol – and suggested that the Biden government should be punished for supporting Navalny. Studio 5 anchor Stas Natanzon asked Zakharova, a spokesman for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “If the United States had the mere suspicion that someone at the Russian embassy was in contact with or helping Trump supporters in their activities, our diplomats and officials they would have been expelled immediately. Is it possible to expel the American authorities who are in contact with the organizers of the protests? “Zakharova timidly replied,” I prefer not to answer, we are just getting started. “