Russian state TV program 60 minutes reproduced the clip of former United States President Donald Trump, asking CPAC: “Do you still miss me?” Co-host Olga Skabeeva responded eagerly: “Yes, we have!”
Other experts from the Rossiya-1 network nodded and agreed. Trump’s departure drained the joy of pro-Kremlin propagandists, with a host of new problems looming on the horizon for Russia. Instead of bragging about “owning” the President of the United States, Russian state TV shows are now full of dark experts, and discussions about the impending flood of American sanctions are so tense that they leave analysts on the brink of a fight .
During Trump’s years, state media spokesmen, tightly controlled by Russian President Vladimir Putin, looked happy and followed his example, exclaiming that they wanted Trump to be elected just because he promised to improve US-Russia relations. Appearing on talk shows and home news programs, experts are now making a slip and admitting that they preferred Trump’s presidency primarily because he was devastatingly bad for the United States and its allies. After President Joe Biden was elected – despite Russia’s efforts to the contrary – all pretensions fell by the wayside.
During your evening program The night with Vladimir Soloviev on Tuesday, prominent state TV presenter Vladimir Soloviev exclaimed, “Why would America think we are interested in changing or improving our relations with them?” He added: “What makes you think we are interested in a restart?” Soloviev predicted a “tough and asymmetric response” to Biden’s first round of sanctions, which will include further hostilities in Ukraine, long seen in Moscow as one of the main battlegrounds in Russia’s struggle against the collective West.
The Biden government announced sanctions against seven Russian officials on Tuesday in response to the attack on Navalny, which was ignored by Trump.
On all platforms of Russian state media, hosts and experts agreed that Russia is in a new Cold War with the United States, with far-reaching consequences for Ukraine and other neighboring countries in Russia. In February, Putin held a videoconference meeting with the heads of Russia’s largest media, convened behind closed doors. Before the summit, RT chief Margarita Simonyan traveled to eastern Ukraine and publicly argued that “Mother Russia should take Donbass home”. After the conference, Simonyan quoted Putin as saying to her: “We will never abandon Donbass. Always. “She also admitted that America was a topic of discussion, but did not go into more detail.
Experts and experts in all Russian state media have repeatedly stated that the United States has always been and always will be Russia’s sworn enemies. Appearing in The night with Vladimir Soloviev, Semyon Bagdasarov, director of the Center for Studies in the Middle East and Central Asia, based in Moscow, exclaimed: “A war is being waged against us. Let’s call things what they are. They are our enemies. They want to destroy us. ”Some went even further. During the same program, Dmitry Kulikov, a member of the Zinoviev Club, instituted by Kremlin-controlled media giant Russia Today, argued that Americans should be seen as a totally different class of beings, “the others”. Anyone who aligns with the United States – from Russian dissidents to European allies – will undoubtedly be painted with the same brush.
Russian propaganda operations are expanding, both internationally and domestically, with larger budgets being allocated to state-run media outlets such as RT and RIA Novosti. Internally, the state media will try to unite the Russians against the collective West, headed by the United States. Internationally, Russian state media and aligned troll farms will continue their efforts to ignite divisions and destroy NATO alliances.
One of the consequences of the election of President Biden was the renewed commitment to transatlantic unity, an undesirable side effect for the Kremlin. Skabeeva from Russia 60 minutes he bitterly described the coordination of the latest US and European sanctions package against Russia for the attempted poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny as an example of “unity never seen before Trump”. Appearing at Russia-1, the vice president of world politics at Moscow State University, Andrey Sidorov hoped that the transatlantic alliances would be damaged to the point of no return. He pointed out: “Trump will remain forever in the minds of the US allies as an example of how they can be treated by the next government. They will always remember that. “
Without the slightest irony, Sidorov described the alleged intention of the United States to interfere in the Russian elections as “the third phase” of the Cold War. For this reason, Russia has been involved in the “third phase” of the Cold War against the United States for years, having “interfered in the 2016 presidential election in a broad and systematic way”, as described in the conclusions of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
Pro-Kremlin experts anticipated the next cybernetic measures that would target Russia in retaliation for its evil activities against the United States. 60 minutes, Alexei Naumov, of the Russian International Affairs Council, said: “We have laughed at Americans about the ease with which all of their systems have been hacked, perhaps by our hackers. But Americans have very strong cyber forces, offensive cyber forces. They can pose a threat to us. ”Co-host Skabeeva coldly interrupted:“ At the same time, we elected their president and they were unable to elect ours, so it is an open question whose cyber forces are strongest.
The Russian cyber war will undoubtedly continue to include operations of influence directed at the United States. During his nightly broadcast on Wednesday, host Soloviev laughed: “Will there be a Trump opening on March 4th?” Other panelists laughed and acknowledged their familiarity with QAnon’s bizarre conspiracy theory. During the transmission of 60 minutes, Vice President of Duma Pyotr Tolstoy said: “Here in Russia, we always have an asymmetric response. It’s scary … and it’s classified. ”
Threatening retaliation for the latest set of U.S. sanctions, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova urged the United States to “not play with fire”. Co-host Olga Skabeeva asked Zakharova if Russia was ready to respond to US sanctions. She smiled: “There will be an answer. Don’t even worry about it. “