As the US presidential election approaches, a conservative and far-right milieu seeks to reshape the image of the Russian president. Vladimir Putin.final return donald trump They believe that if he becomes president, he will end the war in Ukraine and favor Russia.
In this context, tucker carlson, a popular conservative political commentator, met with President Putin for an interview. But instead of giving interviews, American commentators allowed Russia’s authoritarian leader to develop stories about the Ukraine war and other issues. For example, he argued that Russia has become Europe’s largest economy despite sanctions, but Russia ranks 32nd in Europe in terms of GDP per capita (PPP).
Karlsson’s role was limited to listening and asking gentle questions, leaving Putin to deploy pure Soviet-style disinformation.
Mr. Carlson avoided tough questions. For example, he did not ask why the Russian regime jails and persecutes other candidates who wish to participate in elections. He did not ask questions about why all Russian media is controlled by the government or about crimes against civilians, including children, by the Russian military in Ukraine.
Some of the lies Putin told in his two-hour monologue were blatant and easy to spot. However, President Putin spoke a lot about “historical issues” that are not generally known.
ukraine war
President Putin once again criticized NATO for the war in Ukraine. He repeated the myth of a supposed promise by the United States and other Western leaders that NATO would not expand eastward. President Putin’s NATO narrative argues that the alliance included Central and Eastern European countries by exploiting post-Soviet Russia’s weaknesses.
But there was never such an agreement. mikhail gorbachevthe then-President of the Soviet Union admitted it in an interview with Russia NOW on October 16, 2014.
Until Russia’s military occupation of Crimea in March 2014, there were virtually no NATO combat troops stationed on the territory of the new member state. Since March this year, NATO has increased its military presence in the Baltic Sea region and Central Europe. Therefore, Russian aggressiveness gave rise to the presence of NATO in the region.
Furthermore, compliance with the Union is a free choice for independent states.
President Putin also lied viktor yanukovychIt played a central role in the brutal use of force against pro-democracy demonstrators during the Maidan. Yanukovych, an ally of President Putin, was Ukraine’s president at the time. Putin said the protests had turned violent despite Yanukovych’s refusal to use force. However, President Yanukovych ordered special riot police Berkut to brutally disperse the protesters. In February 2014, his snipers killed 76 people in three days.
President Putin said two coups were launched in Ukraine to artificially sever ties with Russia. He mentioned the 2004 Orange Revolution and the 2014 Maidan protests. However, during the Orange Revolution, Ukrainians rigged elections in an attempt to prevent them from holding elections. Victor Yushchenko To win a majority of votes and become president. After the Maidan (Revolution of Dignity) Petro Poroshenko democratically elected president.
The Russian president claimed in 2014 that Russia had to protect Crimea because it was under threat. However, there was no danger in Crimea during that time. The Revolution of Dignity brought about a peaceful change of government through democratic elections. Later, Russian “little green men” arrived in Crimea to destabilize the situation in Ukraine.
President Putin claimed that the conflict in Donbas started when the Ukrainian government sent air force against civilians. However, the dispute began on April 12, 2014.On that day, FSB personnel Igor Girkin – Also known as Igor Strelkov – led the “separatists” to capture the town of Sloviansk. Ukraine responded on May 26th with an attack on Donetsk airport. In an interview with Russia’s far-right newspaper Zabutra, Girkin claimed personal responsibility for provoking the conflict. The conflict claimed 4,300 lives from April 2014 to November 2014.
President Putin said NATO is considering allowing Russia to annex parts of Ukraine. However, the United Nations declared the annexation illegal under international law.
He said that although NATO has a base on Ukrainian territory, there are no NATO bases on Ukrainian territory because Ukraine is not a member of the alliance.
President Putin reiterated that Ukrainians are actually Russians, insisting that they “still think of themselves as Russians.” however, mikhail khodorkovskyA politician and Russian opposition leader who spent 10 years in a Russian prison as a political prisoner told “I mistakenly believed that this was the case. This grave mistake led to a tragic situation.” Intrusion. A 2022 poll revealed that 93% support independence and only 3% support union with Russia. ”
According to President Putin of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky He is responsible for the failure of peace negotiations with Russia. The truth is that President Zelenskiy has refused to engage in concrete negotiations with President Putin. He said his country is ready to dialogue with Russia, but the president is different. In addition, the Russians attacked civilians, bombed schools and hospitals, and killed Ukrainian citizens while calling for peace talks in Kiev. Putin also told Karlsson that he was open to peace talks with Volodymyr Zelensky, but said Russia had not yet achieved its domestic objectives, including “denazification.”
How Putin distorts history
President Putin reiterated that Ukraine is an artificial entity created under Russia’s initiative. stalin. What a violation of historical events! Ukraine became part of the Soviet Union in 1922. Vladimir Lenin. However, the People’s Republic of Ukraine was declared in 1917, before the Bolsheviks came to power. The Russian Provisional Government recognized independence. Ukraine experienced a separate civil war that was even bloodier than Russia’s.
According to Putin’s narrative, Poland’s role also contributed to the formation of Ukraine’s concept of statehood, since the idea of an independent state was born there. However, like other nation-building processes, Ukrainians self-defining as a separate ethnic group emerged in his nineteenth century.
President Putin said Poland was de facto responsible for the outbreak of World War II because it did not accept Hitler’s plan to exterminate Poles (Slavs) and Jews and make Poland a German territory. , he said. However, this argument was part of Nazi propaganda at the time.
The Second Polish Republic rejected Hitler’s claims and his proposal to ally with Germany against the Soviet Union. However, on August 23, 1939, an agreement (known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) was signed between Hitler’s Germany and Soviet authorities, allowing Germany to attack Poland on September 1, 1939 . Germany and the USSR cooperated until her June 1941.
Putin said Zelensky’s father Oleksandr fought during World War II. However, he was born in 1947, two years after World War II ended.
Are people ready to believe Putin’s lies?
Historical experience shows that disinformation is strictly associated with authoritarian and totalitarian regimes and political parties. Spreading falsehoods and repeating the same blatant lies over and over confuses public opinion and allows impostors to enter the political debate on equal terms with the truth. As a result, political systems, economies, and societies become unstable.
The Russian school of disinformation has deep roots, at least in the Soviet era. Russia during the Stalinist era, the Cold War, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union relied on absurdity to push unrealistic claims.
However, in Western countries, some politicians and political parties were always willing to adopt and exploit the lies of the Soviet Union. Also, today there are parties in EU member states that make up a significant portion of Europe’s far-right parties, along with left-wing parties in France and Greece, that support Russia and the Putin regime in one way or another.
On February 8, the European Parliament announced that Russia is targeting far-right parties and He expressed concern that the story was being provided to those involved. Parliament then adopted the resolution with 433 votes in favor, 56 against, and 18 abstentions.