‘Everything is Bad’: Russian State TV Propagandists Struggle to Spin Country’s Failures in Ukraine

Olga Skabeeva/YouTube

Russian propagandists struggled on state-run television Thursday to positively spin their country’s invasion of Ukraine.

Reporters who document or share stories and narratives which are not in line with the Kremlin are in danger of serving hard time, up to 15 years in prison. But those who are paid to lie to the Russian people are struggling to spin the country’s stalled offensive, and some are apparently dejected, according to a new report from Julia Davis, who monitors Russian state television.

The Daily Beast’s Davis detailed a broadcast of a Russian state TV program called 60 Minutes. During the show, hosts Olga Skabeeva and Evgeny Popov showed images of a devastated Mariupol. They discussed the “positives” of the city’s almost complete destruction.

Davis reported:

They noted that Russia promised to pay compensation to some Ukrainians from the “affected” territories—10,000 rubles each, amounting to a mere $100 dollars.

To make matters worse, Ukrainians forcefully deported to Russia might end up in places like the Russian island of Sakhalin in the Pacific, with freezing cold temperatures and stark landscapes. After discussing news reports about ongoing relocations, Evgeny Popov helpfully pointed out: “But in Sakhalin, the salaries are the highest in the country!”

At one point in the show, a TV pundit by the name of Nikolai Starikov theorized that Ukrainian authorities who have blocked Russian propaganda from being viewed should be tried as “Nazis.”

“When we talk about the organizers of the info-war, I’m convinced that their place is on the same bench where Nazi criminals will be tried,” Starikov opined.

Per Davis, Skabeeva and Popov did not reply to the outlandish comment.

Russian Gen. Vladimir Shamanov then accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of being a “war criminal” for not surrendering — as if his defiance caused unneeded civilian deaths caused by Russia. Shamanov concluded Russia will need to stay in Ukraine for decades to reeducate its people.

An analyst named Vitaly Tretyakov then implied Zelensky is a drug addict and admitted the will of people in Ukraine is strong.

“The situation is serious,” he said. “We have to admit that there was no psychological breakthrough in our operation, where the opposing side would lose their will to resist… The resistance from the Ukrainian side is neither stopping nor weakening.”

Skabeeva then summarized the situation in Ukraine, Davis reported, as if she were seeking someone to correct her.

“So you sprinkled the ashes all over your head, but what do we do now? Skabeeva asked, “What’s our plan? Everything is bad, nothing is working out?”

Panelists on the program were reportedly unable to counter Skabeeva in any substantive way.

She reportedly became “visibly angered” and shouted at Tretyakov, as she questioned his support for the Russian military.