Vladimir Putin’s top TV propagandists are starting to betray signs of panic inside the Kremlin. They admit the war in Ukraine is spiraling out of control, and Putin can no longer protect the Russian people, but they are warning against bringing Putin down as it would spill “lots of blood.”
Decorated state TV host Vladimir Solovyov, who used to relish the idea of destroying Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and freezing its citizens to death, is now warning Russians to prepare for Ukrainian strikes that might leave them without heating this winter. During the latest broadcast of Sunday Evening With Vladimir Solovyov, the host opened the program by trying to cheer people up. He asserted that “there is no panic,” even though “things are difficult.”
Effectively conceding that Russia is unable to protect its border regions, Solovyov suggested relocating hundreds of thousands of people from Kursk, Bryansk, Belgorod, Crimea, and occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson to distant areas within Russia, like the Volga, Urals, and Far East.
Solovyov grimly noted, “We’ve encountered a new kind of war. Everyone understands this. For us, this war is quite difficult, because there was a certain moment in 2022 when it suddenly became clear that a military doctrine to which all armies in the world used to adhere no longer works.” Heavily sighing, the host described the destruction of the ammunition and military equipment in the years preceding Russia’s invasion as a “giant mistake.” Solovyov noted that the production of weapons must be “colossally increased,” but these should be modern tools of war as opposed to tanks and standard artillery. He said, “We should be manufacturing things and realizing that this war will last a long time.”
The host admitted that Russia is in dire need of drone interceptors, in large quantities. He warned that soon, Ukraine will be launching ballistic missiles into Russia.
Solovyov pointed out, “We certainly can’t deal with this without the civilian sector. We certainly can’t deal with this without major companies.” He added, “It’s clear what the enemy is doing, he is trying to destabilize the situation inside our country.”
The host claimed that Russian women are trying to join Russia’s Combat Army Reserves, also known as BARS, but aren’t being allowed to sign up. Solovyov asked, “Can’t we revise the laws in accordance with the realities of military times?”
Alexei Kondratiev, a member of Russia’s Federation Council, admitted, “The balance is not in our favor.”
He urged civilians to participate in organizing local air defense units and pointed out, “During the Great Patriotic War, there were local air defense units. In conditions of war, this should exist on every patch of land.” Solovyov jumped in to continue this obviously choreographed bit and asked, “Who stood on those roofs? I remember those photos. There were women.” One of the panelists added off-camera, “Women and children,” suggesting an apparent willingness to sacrifice Russia’s own children for the benefit of continuing Putin’s imperial conquest of a neighboring nation.
Kondratiev stressed, “People have the right to defend their Motherland. It doesn’t matter if you’re wounded, sick or crippled. It doesn’t matter what ailments you have.” Solovyov added, “It also doesn’t matter how old you are or what your gender is.”
Kondratiev asserted that Ukraine’s goal is to undermine the trust in Russia’s government and urged people not to contemplate overthrowing it. He exclaimed, “Any revolution in our country always ended with the death of a nation and lots of blood. We shouldn’t succumb to this.”
Adding insult to injury, state TV’s pundits are no longer enamored with Trump and fearful of the possibility of additional sanctions. Demonstrating his utter desperation to reverse the situation, Solovyov floated a ridiculous conspiracy theory that Ukrainians poisoned U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham to ensure that the bill that he championed will be posthumously passed in his honor, and Russia will be subjected to “sanctions from hell.”
Even Solovyov’s guests appeared to be embarrassed by these ludicrous fabrications. His fellow propagandists looked down, and no one nodded in support of the host’s scripted spiel. Professor Andrey Sidorov bluntly asserted, “You know, to be honest, I have zero interest in Lindsey Graham and his death.”
In the past, Solovyov’s catch-all response to all of Russia’s troubles always came down to nuclear threats. However, it seems that the boisterous propagandist was provided with an updated guidance and the self-proclaimed “nuclear maniac” has been unusually subdued on this topic in recent weeks. Solovyov revised his customary threat that the whole world will cease to exist if Russia loses this war. Now he simply asserts that Russia itself will disintegrate unless it defeats Ukraine and NATO.
To satisfy his urge of threatening other countries or entities with destruction, during his Sunday show Solovyov proposed erasing the International Criminal Court off the face of the earth, as a punishment for pursuing war crimes charges against Russian President Vladimir Putin. The host surmised, “After it burns to the ground, it can be swept into the trash bin of history.”
