Putin ‘started war to secure his power’ says Browder

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Ukrainian Defence Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said today Russia’s military campaign had entered its most active phase yet. In Russia, too, it appears the propaganda campaign, pushed through state-run television channels, is ramping up day by day.

Vladimir Putin declared the action a “special military operation” upon the invasion’s launch in late February.

Within weeks, television hosts and guests had variously told their millions of viewers it was, instead, a wider war against the whole of the West and a “holy war”.

Julia Davis, a columnist at the Daily Beast who monitors Russian state TV, today quoted Channel One Russia host Vladimir Solovyov in a post on Twitter.

He insisted Ukraine’s history was being “made up” – that its people really belong to Russia.

Solovyov added that Russian troops are not working to take land from others but are, in fact, fighting for “their land”.

Whatever the response to these claims, the host added, these troops are “never leaving”.

He said Ukrainians would welcome Russian forces when they come to “understand” this.

Ms Davis, who is sanctioned by the Russian Government, said this amounted to “genocidal talk”.

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News Hour contributor Hari Sreenivasan added in a post on Twitter: “Part of dehumanising your foe is to say that their cultural and linguistic identity is not real.”

Assistant Professor of Public Administration Tamara Krawchenko also said this was “yet another outrageous display of Russian chauvinism”.

Solovyov said it was not just the Ukrainian Government’s interpretation of the country’s history that was “made up” but its religion, too.

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This is not the first time religious differences have been invoked in the ongoing Russo-Ukraine war.

In April, Orthodox tycoon Konstantin Malofeyev, quoted by Francis Scarr of the BBC, told Channel One Russia his country was waging a “holy war” in Ukraine against “satanists” and “pagans”.

Mr Scarr also this week highlighted that state TV hosts have occasionally referred to the US and UK not as “Anglo-Saxon” but “Anglo-Protestant”.

His followers joked this would come as news for Catholic Joe Biden and Boris Johnson who is an Anglican but, in his own words, a “very, very bad” one.

Professor Eliot Cohen, a contributing writer at the Atlantic, suggested Solovyov’s words showed that Russia must suffer “a truly crushing defeat” in its war against Ukraine.

But other commentators are highlighting far less blood would be spilt if leaders instead seek peace for negotiations as soon as possible.

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