What TV is telling Russians – and why they believe it

If you want to understand how Russians see the world, it helps to watch Russian TV. The Kremlin’s control over the airwaves permeates every part of Russia’s television schedules. There are no longer soaps or series during waking hours, just relentless TV shows about Russia’s place in the world. The popular and execrable ‘news’ discussion show 60 Minutes now often lasts two to three hours. It is as if EastEnders and Coronation Street were replaced with 200 minutes of state propaganda.

Such shows depict Russia’s horrific assault on Ukrainian towns, cities and people as a special military operation. They are punctuated with clips of Vladimir Putin celebrating a successful and pre-emptive mission to free Donbas from genocidal Ukrainian butchers. Russians and non-Russians alike see the human misery and detritus of an unprovoked invasion by a fascistic army – except Russians think that army belongs to Ukraine.

Clips and quotes from Putin’s interviews are repeated across Russian media for days on end. Vesti Nedeli, a flagship weekly news roundup show fronted by propagandist-in-chief Dmitrii Kiselev, is a good example of the genre. It intersperses Putin’s wild accusations with stories about Pentagon bioweapon networks in Ukraine, Nazis torturing children, economic collapse in the West, efforts to cancel Russia, and transgenderism.

Despite clear evidence the invasion has stalled, the mood on Kremlin TV is assured. According to Vesti Nedeli’s military correspondent and army mouthpiece, Evgenii Poddubny, it is Ukrainian fighters that are deserting, not Russians, and it is Ukrainian supplies and equipment being destroyed, not Russia’s. By way of evidence of Russian success, the camera zooms in on the corpse of a young Ukrainian soldier. This brutalising image is followed by efforts to humanise the Russian invaders, one of whom starts his interview by telling his wife that he loves her.