It is well known that things are not going well for the Russians in Ukraine. Even the big night news admits that last week was “the hardest week on the front lines” of the “special military operation,” as the Kremlin still calls the war. So there’s no need to deny, but if everyone starts saying what they think, Russia has a problem.
In the talk show, which is distributed throughout the website RussiaMediaMonitor, some panelists go much further this time. They appear to have lost their faith in the Kremlin stories and in the war itself. Some panelists even openly say that this war can no longer be won or that it will otherwise take a very long time: two opinions that people have always been anxious to keep to themselves.
Harassment
Things go awry, for example, when the most outspoken panelist, ex-politician Boris Nadezhdin, says Russia doesn’t stand a chance if it continues to “use current resources and colonial methods of war.” The word ‘colonial’ strikes a chord with Duma member Alexander Kazakov. He scornfully calls Nadezhdin a ‘non-comrade’ and threatens him on live television: ‘I again advise you to be careful with your words. Talking about a ‘colonial war’, even casually, is unacceptable in this context.’
A warning like this could have dire consequences in Russia, but the intimidation no longer works at Nadezhdin. He continues in the same way. He no longer believes that Russia can win the war against Ukraine, he says, and believes it is time for peace negotiations. It is either full-scale war, with ‘total mobilization’, or stop and leave Ukraine. According to him, there is no longer a middle ground.
Diehard and Duma member Sergey Mironov ripostes with standard propaganda: “There can be no negotiations with Zelensky’s Nazi regime.” He trusts the leadership and the military: “Vladimir Vladimirovich (Putin) recently said: we haven’t even started yet.”
‘Sorry, but what are we waiting for?’, jumps in Viktor Olevych (political expert). ‘You say, everything is going according to plan. Do you really believe that six months ago someone planned that we now had to resist a counter-offensive from Kharkiv, that we couldn’t conquer Kharkiv and that we had to get out of Balaklia?’
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Putin himself is out of harm’s way, but if anyone should be blamed for the debacle, it’s the advisers around him, Nadezhdin says. “Those people fooled us all.” He is supported by political commentator Alexander Timofeef. “For a long, long time there has been an expert who always says that when the Russian army enters Odesa, there is only one danger: that the soldiers will be hugged to death by the inhabitants who are overcome by their love for the Russians. After February 24, we all understand very well that things won’t work out like this.’
Timofeef is also clearly no longer fooled. “The same expert is now saying on federal television that we must fight to the bitter end. If his expertise was so wrong before, why should I listen to this man now?’
Host Andrey Norkin thinks it’s time to close. “I think we’ll have to deal with that later, when the military phase is over.” But Nadezhdin hooks in again. ‘How long will it take?’ “As long as it takes,” Norkin replied. Nadezhdin: ‘Thank you for this honest answer. So my children, who are now 10 years old, will soon have the chance to join the fight, yes?’