Speakers across Kremlin-funded media are voicing their dismay and disappointment with the worldwide condemnation of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Now more than ever, Fox News—with its endless stream of pro-Russia talking points—seems to be the only bright spot for Kremlin propagandists otherwise under siege by the West.
While guests and pundits on multiple state TV channels expressed frustration with the world’s unity in opposition to Putin’s aggression, translated clips from Fox News continued to spark joy for them. On Tuesday and Wednesday, multiple state media channels broadcast translated video excerpts from Fox News’ Sunday night segment with Trey Gowdy. In these clips, Ret. Col. Doug Macgregor suggested that Ukrainian troops lay down their guns, retreat, and let Russian President Vladimir Putin have his way with Ukraine. He also complained that Putin is being “demonized” by the United States and opposed any U.S. involvement in helping Ukraine defend itself from Russian aggression.
Macgregor, who previously supported Russia’s annexation of Crimea, argued, “What is happening now is the battle in Eastern Ukraine is really almost over, all the Ukrainian troops there have been largely surrounded and cut off... and if they don't surrender in next 24 hours, I suspect the Russians will ultimately annihilate them... The game is over.” Russian state media flooded their programs with translated clips of Macgregor’s proclamations, using them in support of their own messaging designed to demoralize the Ukrainians.
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Predictably, state TV did not include any clips of Fox News national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin’s rebuttals that followed Macgregor’s appearance, in which she addressed his “distortions” and noted that Macgregor sounded like an “apologist” for Putin.
“Macgregor is expressing his tough position on Ukraine, will he also be sanctioned by the European Union?” asked host Vladimir Soloviev, who recently lost access to two of his Italian villas. Soloviev summed up: “He is de facto justifying Russia’s actions.”
Host Vladimir Soloviev was especially torn up about RT (formerly known as Russia Today), which was dumped by multiple broadcasters in Europe, Canada, and the United States. On Tuesday, he brought up RT’s editor-in-chief, Margarita Simonyan, saying, “Today is a real tragedy for her. She gave 17 years of her life to create RT, a brilliant company. The way they finished off RT in civilized Europe and in the West, how they are tormenting RT’s employees, just destroying it all. It’s out of bounds. It’s so hard for Rita psychologically, because this was her life’s work and now they’re destroying it.”
Instead of Simonyan’s customary appearance on Soloviev’s show, her freshly-sanctioned husband Tigran Keosayan emerged in the studio. He hypocritically exclaimed, “No one here wants war.” Blaming the West for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Keosayan opined, “Their biggest fear is that sooner or later they will have to fight against Russia. If they don’t stop Russia now, it may later be dissatisfied with something in Latvia, Lithuania, or Estonia. And then everyone in the world will find out that there’s no such thing as [NATO’s] Article 5, because no one will step in to defend anybody else.”
Keosayan followed his wife’s lead and demanded silence or praise from all Russian citizens with respect to Putin’s war against Ukraine: “Either be quiet or support it. If you have any grievances, we’ll talk about it after it’s all over... Any anti-war movement while your government is conducting a military operation is anti-government.”
The same day, Echo Moskvy, one of Russia’s oldest radio stations, was taken off the airwaves after authorities threatened to shut it down over its coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian authorities also threatened to block Dozhd, Russia’s independent TV channel. The Prosecutor General’s office accused Echo Moskvy and Dozhd of spreading “false information regarding the actions of Russian military personnel as part of a special operation” in Ukraine. In other words, they dared to tell the truth about Putin’s aggression against what he described as Russia’s “brotherly nation.” This flowery language is now devoid of all meaning to everyday Ukrainians, one of whom tweeted about Russia and Belarus teaming up against Ukraine: “It’s good that we have only two brotherly nations.”
During Soloviev’s show, Keosayan admitted that even pro-Russian voices in Ukraine were stunned by Russian troops invading their country: “Since your program is being watched in Ukraine, I have a sad story to tell. I purposely watched a lot of Ukrainian television for the last several months, and there were some conscientious guys... and now I see their shock and astonishment: ‘You attacked my country.’ I want to address all of them, since they’ll later snap out of it... You were just sitting on your butts, talking... Now Russia is doing for you what you should have done for yourselves!”
Other pundits in the studio were likewise appalled that even pro-Russian Ukrainians weren’t more appreciative of Russia’s military assault on their country. Nikolai Starikov incredulously complained, “Today I watched one Ukrainian channel and they used a curse word to describe Russian soldiers! The enemy says, “Russian soldiers are here!” They see that as a threat! They hate Russian soldiers!”
In a theme that reverberated on multiple state TV stations, Starikov blamed the West for starting Putin’s war against Ukraine: “Our geopolitical adversaries couldn’t wage war inside Russia, so they started one near Russia’s borders. Now Russia is depriving them of an opportunity to create a bleeding wound next to our borders.”
In December 2021, Oleg Voloshin, a former aide to Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, Viktor Yanukovych’s 2010-12 foreign minister, predicted that “Russia could destroy Ukraine in less than 10 minutes.” Senior military analyst Mikhail Khodaryonok was more generous and claimed that it would take “11 minutes,” during the broadcast of 60 Minutes later the same day. “We’re good with that,” approvingly said host Olga Skabeeva, who has since been sanctioned for her relentless incitement of war and years of rabid anti-Ukrainian propaganda.
Sobered up by the fierce resistance put up by the Ukrainians during Soloviev’s show, Starikov tried to temper expectations. Instead of “minutes,” he predicted that Russia’s conquest of Ukraine may take “months, or maybe years.” Soloviev compared the situation to Russia’s brutal Chechen wars and said the turnaround will take time. Instead of blaming Putin, Starikov condemned the United States for helping Ukraine defend itself from Russian aggression. He alleged: “Those who send weapons to Ukraine need more destruction and more victims” and threatened: “American protectorate will be publicly destroyed.” Having said too much, Starikov snapped back to the approved propaganda line: “It will be liberated. There will be a free Ukraine... U.S. plans have been destroyed for decades ahead.”
Host Vladimir Soloviev bitterly added, “They’re imposing such sanctions against us, it’s a declaration of war. De facto, it’s a declaration of war against us. So why should we stop with Ukraine?”
That talking point echoed across multiple government-controlled TV channels. During Friday’s broadcast of 60 Minutes, host Olga Skabeeva said, “Biden announced the goal of our special operation: He said that Putin wants to restore the USSR. As though there’s anything wrong with that.”
