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For those who can read French, this Twitter thread from Anna Colin Lebedev, professor at Paris-Nanterre university & specialist of post-Soviet societies:
  • RIA is state-controlled but is not an official communication of the Russian government.
  • Nevertheless, everything published there is "acceptable by the State", even though not "official" discourse.
  • Russian prime time national TV shows are choke full of "freaks calling for murder, genocide, nuclear war. This has been the case for years. Leaving ordinary Russians unmoved." (I've seen some sample of this: armchair warriors casually discussing annexation of the Baltics, carving out Poland and nuclear bombing of Germany. Fox News looks like a Sunday church picnic in comparison)
  • Timofei Sergueitsev doesn't have any official position (free electron), but it shows "the idea of the necessary extermination of Ukrainians is growing within Russian society." It's not impossible this discourse might be adopted by the Russian leadership at some point.
  • No official policy yet, but setting the stage.
by Bernard (bernard) on Tue Apr 5th, 2022 at 08:15:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Roughly as I expected, but has there been any official denial that his article reflects state policy? Have Russian ambassadors been summoned to explain whether it reflects official policy?

Index of Frank's Diaries
by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Tue Apr 5th, 2022 at 08:26:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]
No: this kind of discourse has been bread and butter on Russian media, only now with the volume cranked up to 11 and more attention being paid to it from Europe.

Why should there be any official denial? Officially, this is just his own opinion, largely shared by a vast number of "patriots".

Is the US ambassador summoned each time Tucker Carlson bleats out yet another deranged editorial?

by Bernard (bernard) on Tue Apr 5th, 2022 at 08:43:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, no, because Tucker supports Russia.  His little show, the White Power Hour, is quite consistent with Putinism.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.
by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Wed Apr 6th, 2022 at 12:50:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Kramatorsk rocket strike: it wasn't us

The Kremlin has denied that Russia was involved in a missile strike on a railway station in Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine, Reuters reports.

Speaking to reporters, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the Russian armed forces had no missions scheduled for Kramatorsk on Friday.

Russia's defence ministry has also denied that Russian forces were responsible for the strike, the Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported.

The Russian state-owned organisation quoted the ministry as saying that the missile was of a type used only by the Ukrainian military, and similar to one that hit the centre of the city of Donetsk on 14 March.

The Russian government has consistently denied it has attacked civilians since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.




It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II
by eurogreen on Fri Apr 8th, 2022 at 12:18:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Ukrainian servicemen stand next to a fragment of a Tochka-U missile with a writing in Russian "For our children" after Russian shelling at the railway station in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Friday, April 8, 2022. Photograph: Andriy Andriyenko/AP

Context : the Ukrainian government has urged civilians to leave the Ukraine-controlled parts of the Donbass, to avoid being encircled and murdered by the RF army.

 The only train line is then bombed by the Russians, resulting in 4000 civilians being concentrated at the Kramatorsk railway station.

Then rockets arrive, killing at least 39.

The Russian denials, I think we have understood by now, are strictly for domestic consumption. (it's possible that there are still some among their apologists in the west who choose to believe them)

It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II

by eurogreen on Fri Apr 8th, 2022 at 12:34:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
OTOH, Dmitry Medvedev is an official from the Russian government:

by Bernard (bernard) on Tue Apr 5th, 2022 at 08:37:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]
They want to lose to Portugal too?

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.
by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Tue Apr 5th, 2022 at 10:38:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
How many tractors do Portuguese farmers have?
by IdiotSavant on Wed Apr 6th, 2022 at 01:32:35 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Probably enough to hold back a Russian tank division, on current form

It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II
by eurogreen on Wed Apr 6th, 2022 at 09:55:46 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Accordning to MSN he said

`The goal is for the sake of the peace of future generations of Ukrainians themselves and the opportunity to finally build an open Eurasia - from Lisbon to Vladivostok.'

Considering that the phrase "Lisbon to Vladivostok" isn't new, and has previously refered to economic integration, I would say taht interpreting this as a threat of war or empire (as for example MSN does) is to put too much into it.

by fjallstrom on Wed Apr 6th, 2022 at 08:31:21 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Given what they are willing to do to Ukranians "for the sake of the peace of future generations of Ukrainians", I would not be so sure.
by det on Wed Apr 6th, 2022 at 09:04:30 AM EST
[ Parent ]

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