State TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov disbands after airing false clip Ukrainians calling Russia ‘asshole’

Nothing has gone Russia’s way since Vladimir Putin launched an all-out invasion of neighboring Ukraine. Kremlin propagandists, tasked with presenting Russia’s enormous losses and failures as part of their leader’s genius plan, are feeling the heat. During the Tuesday night broadcast of Evening with Vladimir SolovyovThe cracks are wider than ever.

Presenter Vladimir Solovyov, who often makes jokes and broadcasts callous cartoons while covering the war in Ukraine, wants to show a clip of Ukrainian soldiers abusing or killing the invaders Russia – to protest the coverage of the horrific massacre in the Ukrainian city of Bucha. He showcased the clip spectacularly, which states in part: “This is how Ukrainian Nazis and Georgian mercenaries joined their ranks, treating their prisoners of war me, whom they captured during the withdrawal from the Kyiv region, it was a gesture of our goodwill. . ”

But due to an obvious production error, it wasn’t the clip that was shown.

In the broadcast video, Ukrainian soldiers stand and walk around a bloody scene on an unknown road, declaring “Glory to Ukraine”, “Glory to the heroes” and “Russia is an asshole.” Photos of the bodies, mostly of Russian servicemen, have been blurred. The video ends with one of the Ukrainian fighters looking straight into the camera as he says: “Don’t come to our land.” In short, the video delivered the opposite message of what the host intended.

Solovyov shouted: “There is another clip, I don’t understand why showing this! There is a clip where they are shooting at our prisoners of war. Getting louder and louder, Solovyov shouted: ‘I don’t understand why the editors showed this clip and not the one I sent them! Still not seeing the clip, the presenter yelled, “Show me that clip! Show me that clip!” Nothing happened, further upset the host. Solovyov’s frustration could be felt. as the show went on. He would periodically shout, “Is the clip ready or not?”

That wasn’t the only hot moment in Tuesday’s segment. As the show went on, Solovyov replied: “Zelensky became hysterical, talking about Bucha, never answering the question: where were these people killed? What is their cause of death? The date of their death? That would explain a lot. Most importantly, who are they? ”

The presenter’s questions were the spark to a conspiracy theory that appeared on Russian state television later this year. A Russian state TV presenter after the next has read by heart Similar discussion points this week can be obtained from so-called “temniks” (directives typically distributed to state media outlets defining their points). Solovyov was one of them, claiming that US President Joe Biden called Vladimir Putin a butcher because the West had “pre-planned” the Bucha massacre with the intention of “blaming” Russia long ago.

State TV presenter 60 minutesEvgeny Popov, who is also the deputy of the State Duma, made similar accusations on Monday night. “This is a particularly large operation that is going hysterical. They have been planning it for a long time. For no reason, Biden called Putin a “butcher”—and now we have Bucha,” he said. During the morning broadcast of the show on the same day, Popov’s wife and co-host Olga Skabeeva recounted similar nonsense conspiracies: “Biden said that Putin was a butcher. Bucha sounds like “butcher.” How could they not take advantage of such a town? ”

Solovyov stuck with the latest state TV trend on his other show, Full contact, on Tuesday, “It’s Bucha, because it sounds like ‘butcher,'” he said. “A very fortunate resonance. So it’s clear that British experts are behind this.” After trying to pin the blame on the Americans, the British, and the Ukrainians, Solovyov is eager to prove who the real victims of this war are: the invading Russian army.

As for the clip Solovyov requested to see in his evening segment, it never aired, leaving him confused and agitated. The show was then uploaded to the official state television website, which was heavily edited and different from the live broadcast. Solovyov’s angry screams have been cut off, masking how angry he is at the risks of his program – not to mention Russia’s failures in Ukraine. And that was before he discovered that one of his recently occupied Italian villas had been burned and vandalized.