Nothing has been going Russia’s way since Vladimir Putin unleashed a full invasion of neighboring Ukraine. Kremlin propagandists, tasked with presenting Russia’s massive losses and setbacks as part of their leader’s genius plan, are feeling the heat. During Tuesday night’s broadcast of The Evening With Vladimir Solovyov, the cracks were wider than ever.
Host Vladimir Solovyov, who routinely cracks jokes and airs callous cartoons in his coverage of the war in Ukraine, wanted to show a clip of Ukrainian soldiers abusing or killing Russian invaders—to counteract the coverage of the horrific massacre in the Ukrainian city of Bucha. He dramatically introduced the clip, stating in part: “This is how the Ukrainian Nazis and the Georgian mercenaries who joined their ranks, treat our prisoners of war, whom they captured during our withdrawal from the Kyiv region, which was our good-will gesture.”
But due to an apparent production mishap, that wasn’t the clip that was shown.
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In the video that aired, Ukrainian soldiers stood and walked around a bloody scene on an unidentified road, proclaiming “Glory to Ukraine,” “Glory to the heroes” and “Russia is a bitch.” Images of the bodies, purportedly of Russian servicemen, were blurred out. The video concluded with one of the Ukrainian fighters staring straight into the lens, as he said: “Don’t come to our land.” In short, the video delivered the opposite message of what the host intended to show.
Solovyov went ballistic, yelling: “There was another clip, I don’t understand why this one was shown! There is a clip where they’re shooting at our prisoners-of-war.” Getting louder and louder, Solovyov shouted: “I don’t understand why the editors have shown this clip and not the one I sent them!” Still not seeing the clip, the host screamed: “Show me that clip! Show me that clip!” Nothing happened, irritating the host even further. Solovyov’s frustration was palpable as the show went on. He periodically yelled out: “Is the clip ready or not?”
That wasn’t the only heated moment on the Tuesday segment. As the show progressed, Solovyov opined: “Zelensky became hysterical, talking about Bucha, having never answered the question: where were these people killed? What was their cause of death? Their date of death? That would have explained a lot. Most importantly, who are they?”
The host’s questions were a regurgitation of a conspiracy theory that has blossomed on Russian state television as of late. One Russian state TV host after the next has recited similar talking points this week, possibly obtained from a so-called “temnik” (directives commonly distributed to state media outlets that define their talking points). Solovyov was one of them, claiming that U.S. President Joe Biden called Putin a butcher because the West had “pre-planned” the Bucha massacre with the intention of “blaming” it on Russia long in advance.
Host of the state TV show 60 Minutes, Evgeny Popov, who is also a deputy of the State Duma, made identical allegations on Monday night. “This was a big special operation that is turning into hysteria. They’ve been planning it for a long time. It wasn’t for nothing that Biden called Putin a ‘butcher’—and now we have Bucha,” he said. During the morning’s broadcast of the show on that same day, Popov’s wife and co-host Olga Skabeeva recited similar conspiratorial nonsense: “Biden said that Putin is a butcher. Bucha sounds like ‘butcher.’ How could they not take advantage of such a town?”
Solovyov stuck with the latest state TV trend on his other show, Full Contact, on Tuesday, “It’s Bucha, because it sounds like ‘butcher,’” he said. “A very fortunate consonance. So it’s clear that the British specialists are behind this.” Having attempted to shift the blame to the Americans, the British and the Ukrainians, Solovyov was eager to demonstrate who he thinks are the real victims in this war: invading Russian troops.
As for the clip Solovyov demanded to see on his evening segment, it was never broadcast, leaving him flustered and agitated. The show that was later uploaded to the official state TV website was doctored and drastically different from the livestream. Solovyov’s angry yelling was cut out, concealing how furious he was with the mishaps on his show—not to mention Russia’s failures in Ukraine. And that was before he found out that one of his recently seized Italian villas had been torched and vandalized.
