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Pearls of Kremlin propaganda
“Goals change, but they don’t change” – Vladimir Putin in the rhetoric trap
Vladimir Putin at the meeting with the most famous Z-bloggers in Russia
© Gavriil Grigorov/stern / Imago Images
18 well-known Z bloggers were allowed to ask Vladimir Putin their questions. Although no surprises awaited the Kremlin boss, he stumbled from one rhetorical faux pas to the next.
Sladkov, Kots, Poddubny, Pegov, Filatov, Rudenko, Kiksenkova and a few others – these are the names of the men and women who were allowed to sit at Vladimir Putin’s oval table on Tuesday. They all belong to a new caste of the Russian public, the so-called war correspondents. But their craft has nothing in common with the profession of journalist. They all do nothing but propaganda and are also known as Z-Propagandists. (The letter Z has become a symbol of aggressive war against Ukraine.)
Z-Bloggers, or military bloggers as they like to call themselves, sprout with the onset of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In contrast to the state media’s propaganda machine orchestrated from the Kremlin, the Z bloggers do not obey one master. They have many, some of them none at all. What unites them: their audience thirsts for blood. And they deliver what is required. Uncensored pictures from the front are their trademark. Their motto: the more mutilated corpses there are, the better. Telegram is her favorite channel, where the barrage of atrocities knows no bounds.
The gory images fill the information gap that arises between the state-controlled propaganda and the events of the war. The Z bloggers are daring to do what is considered treason in Russia: criticism of the government. The war isn’t bloody enough for their liking.
The career of a dictator
From the “moth” to Putin, the eternal – the bloody path of the Kremlin boss in pictures
Questions from Z bloggers instead of the “people”
The importance and influence the Z bloggers have now achieved in Russia is shown by their meeting with Putin. The Kremlin boss invited 16 men and two women to a question and answer session. On the other hand, he is skipping his “direct line” again this year. Before the war, residents of Russia could address their president directly once a year as part of a TV show. Of course, the questions had been carefully selected and ordered in advance. But Putin can’t even make up his mind to do that.
Instead, he now answered the questions of the Z bloggers. These were chosen just as wisely as the questions from the supposed people used to be. Nevertheless, Putin maneuvered from one rhetorical faux pas to the next.
The logic of Vladimir Putin
The Kremlin boss delivered a brilliant performance in rhetoric right at the beginning of the question and answer session. Yevgeny Poddubny, Z propagandist of the All-Russian state television and radio company, wanted to know from Putin whether and how the war aims had changed. The literal answer of the Russian commander-in-chief: “No, they change according to the current situation. But in general, of course, we will not change anything, they are of a fundamental nature for us.”
So the goals change according to the situation – but they don’t change? Obviously no contradiction for Putin.
The round of questions continued in a similarly revealing manner. Ilya Ushenin from the NTW broadcaster wanted to know why Putin wasn’t reacting to the violation of his much-cited “red lines.” The military bloggers have long called for radical steps by the Kremlin, such as the use of tactical nuclear weapons. “We raise some concerns, we keep talking about the illegality of these actions, but there are no real answers. Are we going to keep pushing the ‘red line’?” the Z blogger asked.
“Listen, isn’t the implementation of the special military operation in itself a reaction to the violation of these ‘lines’?” Putin countered with a counter-question. He preferred to suppress the fact that he had had to draw new “red lines” several times since the beginning of the war.
War to end “war”.
Instead, the Kremlin chief offered a peculiar explanation for his war. “They made us use guns to end the war they started in 2014.” With Putin, they are always the states of the “collective West”.
“They tell us: you started the war. Putin is the aggressor. No: they are the aggressors, they started this war and we are trying to stop it. But we are forced to do it with the help of the army “Putin complained, putting himself in the victim role. For Putin, these words do not appear to contain any contradiction either.
According to his own statements, Putin ordered hundreds of thousands of soldiers to invade a foreign country and has had it bombed every day since – because the West made him do it and he wants to end a war.
The Confessions of a Commander-in-Chief
But even those who can still detect some logic in Putin’s words at this point should be amazed at the abilities of the self-proclaimed genius geo-strategist in the light of the following candid confession.
“Now to the question of whether additional mobilization is necessary,” Putin responded to the corresponding question. “I don’t follow it very much. But some of our public figures say that we urgently need to recruit another million, or even two million. It depends what we want,” was Putin’s response. So the supreme commander of the Russian army, who Putin is officially according to the Russian constitution, isn’t keeping a close eye on whether he needs to mobilize a million or two of his citizens to wage a war that the hostile “collective West” has lured him to? A scoundrel who still has questions here.
The full conversation between Vladimir Putin and the most prominent Z bloggers is on the Kremlin website accessible.