When launching the invasion of his neighbouring nation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that a “special military action” was required to preserve people from “militarisation” and “Nazification.” “Its objective is to safeguard those who have been subjected to torture and genocide by the Kyiv regime for the past eight years,” he said. However, the narrative has evolved radically in the six weeks since the conflict began.
Rhetoric aired to millions on Russia’s state-owned Channel One has intensified in recent weeks, during which time the military objective of “protecting” Ukraine appears to have been replaced with one of eradicating it entirely.
One Russian commentator, Alexei Martynov, suggested in a show today, Thursday, that Russia is interested in more than simply Ukrainian leadership.
He went on to say that the most they can hope for is a “Government in exile,” maybe in Poland.
This message was reinforced in another recent Channel One Russia presentation, in which Orthodox tycoon Konstantin Malofeyev stated Russia was involved in a “holy war” rather than a “special military operation.”
“Konstantin Malofeyev believes Russians should recognise that their country is conducting a ‘holy war’ in Ukraine against’satanists’ and ‘pagans,'” Mr Scarr tweeted last week.
According to Max Seddon of the Financial Times, this communication was not sent by chance, but was designed to rally the Russian people behind a more extreme initiative than was initially disclosed.
“You know the Kremlin wants to promote once-fringe imperialist ideologues like Malofeyev by putting them on prime time state TV,” he wrote.
While these messages were most likely heard in Russia, Channel One is more known in the West for its brief, unintentional broadcast of an anti-war rally late last month.
Former employee Marina Ovsyannikova memorably stormed the stage with a banner and said, “Stop the war!” “There will be no conflict.”
The screen soon flickered to another story, and Ovsyannikova was fined £215.
The rhetoric is heating up, and, as Mr Scarr observes, the word “war” is being used “more and more” on Russian television.
