But President Putin recognizes himself as Russia’s only legitimate representative. “Without President Putin, he would not have Russia today,” said Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the Russian parliament’s lower house of parliament, a sentiment shared by key officials.
Why did the Soviet Union collapse?
What he said: “Russia also voluntarily and actively consented to the collapse of the Soviet Union. …After all, the collapse of the Soviet Union was de facto initiated by the Russian leadership.”
Why he’s wrong: Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin He was one of the three signatories of the Beloveza Agreement, which declared the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union was primarily due to internal political and economic struggles, with several Soviet republics declaring independence against Moscow’s wishes.
Who has more powerful propaganda
What he said: “It’s very difficult to win against the US in a propaganda war, because the US controls all the world’s media and much of the European media. The ultimate beneficiary of Europe’s largest media is American financial institutions.”
Why he’s wrong: In contrast to the situation with Russian state media, the largest news media companies are privately owned and operate without direct government control. Russian state television and Russia’s main news agencies are government properties, and the Kremlin either controls other media or destroys those it doesn’t want to cooperate with.
According to Reporters Without Borders, Russian authorities imprisoned 28 journalists in 2023. Two American citizens were among them. Wall Street Journal correspondent Evan Gershkovich, accused of espionage. Ars Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist working for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was accused of failing to register as a “foreign agent.”