Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine is faltering, and so are their efforts to recruit volunteers. A man resembling Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Kremlin-linked businessman who is believed to be in charge of the infamous Wagner Group, was recently filmed recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine. Top Russian propagandist, Vladimir Solovyov, often offers to publicize contact information that would drive more volunteers to sign up. Military experts on state TV openly admit that Russia’s presence on the frontline is sorely lacking, but government officials insist that total mobilization is not being considered.
Writer Zakhar Prilepin, who is wanted by Ukraine’s SBU security service on charges of “taking part in the activity of a terrorist organization” for his ongoing involvement in Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine, often talks about his travels to the frontline and boasts of extensive first-hand knowledge about the war. Appearing on Friday’s broadcast of 60 Minutes, Prilepin raged: “We really don’t have enough men fighting over there. When people say we have 150k, 100k, 200k, I want to tell them: we don’t have that many people there! It can’t go on this way... We have a very small contingent. For a country of our size, it's no good.”
With all current recruitment efforts falling short, head of RT Margarita Simonyan decided to throw her hat into the ring, trying to scare everyday Russians into volunteering. Appearing on the state TV show The Evening With Vladimir Solovyov Thursday evening, Simonyan performed one of her cringiest routines thus far. She opened the conversation by preempting any attempts to discuss the state of Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine: “I guess, something needs to be said about the current state of war—whether it was or wasn’t declared against us by NATO, NATO troops and Ukraine; about the “special military operation,” as we call it. I won’t talk about it right now, because this is not the time for uplifting statements.”
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Solovyov suggested pundit Yaakov Kedmi should help Simonyan look at the “bright side of life”, even though his prognosis of how Russia’s war against Ukraine would progress turned out to be completely off the mark. Instead of pitching in, Kedmi let out a long cough and refused the opportunity to lighten up the moment. Head of RT claimed that “her conscience and her knowledge about what’s going on” would not allow her to comment any further. After noting that the situation is very difficult, Simonyan decided to sing verses from an old Soviet song, “The March of the Red Cavalry.” Other panelists awkwardly looked down, as she sang and then reiterated the lyrics about moving forward and never backing down.
Simonyan went on: “If we back down, what awaits us—and I don’t mean it as hyperbole or metaphorically speaking—is everything that is described in [Adolf] Hitler’s table conversations, written down by his aides and secretaries. With a lot of gusto, he described in great detail how he saw our place on earth. It was a plan to turn us into yahoos—from “Gulliver's Travels”—abominable creatures, resembling human beings. They look just like us, but in reality they’re nothing like us. They can’t read or write, they can barely talk—that was written in Hitler’s table conversations. He even wanted us to lose our language, communicating with the use of signs and gestures.”
Simonyan recounted Hitlers plans to turn Russians into a mass of people, denied basic rights, from vaccination to education. To keep them in a good mood, the enslaved masses would be entertained with happy tunes, constantly being played for their enjoyment. Simonyan argued: “If you think that sounds wild, let’s remember that it isn’t. Let’s remember the 90s when this is exactly what happened. There was fun and music everywhere, but nothing to eat.”
Head of RT alleged, in all seriousness: “This is exactly what awaits us in the future if we back down. Are we ready to live that way?” She added: “Let’s not think that this is just some local conflict... For us, this is a question of continuing to exist in our current state.” Simonyan described the civilized West as “hypocrites, armed with Hitler’s fascist rhetoric, plans and methods.”
While the host and his guests enthusiastically claim to condemn Nazism, Solovyov’s show often serves as a platform for genocidal anti-Ukrainian rhetoric. During Monday’s broadcast, political analyst Dmitry Drobnitsky claimed that the Ukrainian people do not exist, prompting an unusual rebuke from another pundit, Alexander Sosnovsky, who described Drobnitsky’s statements as “clear-cut nationalism.”
Despite frequent denials of the Ukrainian identity and Russia’s blatantly genocidal invasion of Ukraine, the culprits and their mouthpieces describe everyone who opposes their bloody war of aggression as “Nazis.”
During Wednesday’s broadcast of 60 Minutes, political analyst Andrei Sidorchik exclaimed: “Not only the representatives of certain power structures in Ukraine are Nazis, but the head of the government of the United States Joe Biden is a Nazi. [Chancellor of Germany] Olaf Scholz is a Nazi. [President of the European Commission] Ursula von der Leyen is a Nazi... When we hear them say that Russia and the Russian people should be defeated and learn their lessons, this is their war not only against our nation, but against our people. Therefore, this is clear-cut Nazism.”
Simonyan called on the Russian people to push forward until the bitter end, squeezing out “nerus,” a disparaging term, used to describe anyone who is not Russian, along with “vyrus,” the word used to describe those who are Russian, but refuse to self-identify as such.
Concluding her bizarre performance on Solovyov’s show, Simonyan said: “People ask when, where and how our special operation will end. It will end when all the ‘nerus,’ all the ‘vyrus,’ everyone who wants to turn us into yahoos, everyone who directs them, everyone who brainwashes them, will suffer infamy and shame. It may take 3 months, 3 years or 30 years, so be it. What other choice do we have?” Solovyov replied: “Our other choice? Reduce the whole world to dust. Just not yet.” Smiling, Simonyan replied, “And we will go to heaven.”
