Russian television, as a rule, does not broadcast negative news related to the war. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement of the armed uprising in Rostov, which he called an act of treason, came as a surprise, given that the recording of “Swan Lake” was broadcast during the 1991 coup attempt, writes The Guardian

Russian television often ignores news that is unpleasant for Moscow, and a famous moment for the Soviet-era media is the broadcast of a recording of the ballet “Swan Lake” during the 1991 coup attempt.

On the night from Friday to Saturday, when Yevgeny Prigozhin announced that he would go on the “march of justice” at the request of the head of the Russian military leadership Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, everything was a little different.

The state channel “Pershii Kanal” published an emergency news about Prigozhin’s statement about the armed mutiny, also clarifying the reason given by “Putin’s cook”: Wagner’s troops came under artillery fire from the Russian army.

Discrediting Prigozhin

Then host Kateryna Andreeva, one of the most famous TV presenters in Russia, quickly declared that this was false information.

“The first sign is the lack of other witnesses,” she said, pointing to the speed with which Prigozhin denounced the Russian Defense Ministry just 15 minutes after the alleged hit.

On the three o’clock news, Russian state television broadcast footage from Rostov, where Wagner’s fighters were walking the streets. The scenes focus on angry locals berating the mercenaries, showing a man on a bicycle telling them they should be ashamed as “defenders of the motherland”.

However, the heads of Russian state television tried to avoid the topic of Prigozhin’s rebellion. Shortly after Vladimir Putin appeared on television on Saturday morning and said that Russia intended to “brutally” suppress “internal unrest,” stations aired a lengthy documentary on the life of Silvio Berlusconi.

The Italian politician was a friend of Putin, but the documentary could wait until the outcome of Prigozhin’s attempt to change the leadership of the Russian army.

Another TV channel showed a documentary about the illegal production of caviar.

It was clear that this was too large-scale an event to ignore, and state television sought to discredit Prigozhin rather than panic the population.

“Peaceful atmosphere” in Rostov

BBC journalist Francis Scarr, who monitors Russian state television, noted that the news broadcasts followed the Kremlin’s line.

“They had a correspondent in Rostov earlier who admitted that people were buying fuel in a panic, but concluded that ‘the general situation is calm.’ So they’re certainly not ignoring it completely, but they’re clearly trying to downplay it,” Francis said. Scar.

Other TV channels tried to blame the West, and Russia Today reported that American and British secret services were behind the mutiny of Wagner’s troops.