While American journalists were discussing the “historic” (actually not that historic) nature of Joe Biden’s secretive trip to Kyiv, television hosts and analysts in Russia were having quite a different reaction. Olga Skabeeva, the host of the Russian version of 60 minutes, was interviewing Military expert Evgeny Buzhinsky when the first pictures of Biden and Zelensky together began showing up. The host seemed dumbfounded that the American president would actually have the nerve to travel there. They both seemed dismayed at Putin’s government for offering security guarantees to Washington. Buzhinsky suggested that “perhaps we could have whacked Biden,” but then said that assassinating the American president would have been “too much.” The conversation continued to grow more dramatic from there. (Daily Beast)
Visibly unsettled, 60 Minutes host Olga Skabeeva announced, “The White House has confirmed that Biden really is in the Ukrainian capital. He really came to the Ukrainian capital. Zelensky just published the pictures… There he is, Biden, in the flesh.” The program then played footage of the smiling American president walking alongside Zelensky and shaking hands with Ukrainian officials. The clip was set to dramatic music more suitable for a horror movie…
She questioned the wisdom of Russia going along with the trip and purportedly agreeing not to strike Kyiv during the presidential visit: “If we gave these security guarantees, then what for?” Buzhinsky replied, “Well, you know, perhaps we could have whacked Biden, but it would have been too much.” Skabeeva retorted, “So it’s too much to whack Biden, but it’s OK to threaten Putin and it’s also fine to blow up the Nord Stream? It’s not about aggression, it’s about the logic: where is it?”
Buzhinsky didn’t object to the idea of killing the American president, as long as his replacement was more in line with Russia’s interests. He wasn’t comfortable with the thought of Vice President Kamala Harris at the helm, claiming that, unlike Biden, Harris would be completely unrestrained in her response to Russia and would present an even worse option for the Kremlin.
Buzhinsky accused Biden of planning an “escalation” of the war in Ukraine and suggested that Russia needed to “begin down a path of escalation” as well. He proposed pulling out of the grain shipment deal that was approved last year and attacking Elon Musk’s Starlink equipment in Ukraine. He felt that small steps were better than what some of the oligarchs have been proposing, including launching nuclear strikes on Washington, Paris, and London.
What is very interesting is that both of them repeatedly brought up the Nord Stream pipelines. The host asked why it would be out of bounds to kill Joe Biden, “but it’s OK to threaten Putin and it’s also fine to blow up the Nord Stream?” They were referring to the numerous times that Biden has said Putin should be removed (before his staff rushed out to “clarify” that we don’t support regime change) and flatly stating that Biden was responsible for blowing up Nord Stream.
That seems to be the company line in Russia at the moment. I still find it ridiculous to believe that Putin would blow up his own pipeline, but we still don’t have 100% confirmation that the plot was hatched in the White House. (They sent out John Kirby again this weekend to vehemently deny the accusation.) But as far as the Russian public is concerned, we blew up their pipelines. And even if we didn’t do it directly, I would be quite shocked if we weren’t involved somehow.
The conversation kept returning to the idea of “whacking” world leaders from the west. But while Buzhinsky clearly wasn’t opposed to the idea, he pointed out that “we should have started much sooner” by killing Boris Johnson when he visited Zelensky.
If this conversation is typical of what’s being said around kitchen tables across Russia, it’s very disturbing. But then again, this is Russian state TV we’re talking about and they are expected to toe the company line. The Russian public may very well be tired of this war and want to see it end. But the “official” position is that people are wondering why Moscow isn’t being more aggressive toward the NATO alliance.
These reactions provide an interesting look inside the narrative that’s being fed to the Russian public. And the tone being set in Moscow suggests that Putin will not be backing down or pulling out of Ukraine any time soon.
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