The show is called Bolshaya IgraWhere The big game. It is broadcast by the First Russian Television Channel at prime time. On Thursday, his presenter looked serious. The subject of the day: the laboratories of prohibited biological weapons disseminated a little everywhere in Ukraine.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
A major of the Russian army, Sergei Lipovoi, affirmed there that the United States exploits a secret program of manufacture of biological weapons on the Ukrainian territory.
“This program is led by the United States and the NATO countries,” said the major, who displayed a military decoration on his chest.
He presented a map identifying the location of these laboratories. Curiously, it coincided with that of the towns which are undergoing – or are preparing to undergo – a Russian offensive. Zaporizhia, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Odessa, Kyiv.
This story of biological weapons is at the heart of Kremlin propaganda, two weeks after the outbreak of a war more difficult than Russian leaders had imagined.
Washington fears these so-called labs could be used as a pretext for a chemical attack on Ukraine that would then be blamed on the Ukrainians, wrote the Guardian Wednesday, citing White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki.
If necessary, Russian public opinion will be ready. Because since the outbreak of the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Moscow has gradually tightened the screws on the last independent Russian media, while blocking many sites and social networks on its territory.
Fifteen years in prison
On March 4, the Duma, the Russian parliament, passed a law threatening journalists who disseminate “false information about the army” with penalties of up to 15 years in prison.
The law, which specifically prohibits the use of words such as “war”, “invasion” and “attack” in coverage of the conflict, has sent unprecedented shock waves.
The next day, many foreign media, including Radio-Canada, ceased their coverage from Russia (some, including the BBC, have since resumed their activities in Russian territory).
According to Amnesty International, up to 150 Russian journalists have fled their country.
The information blockade particularly targets social networks. Roskomnadzor, the federal authority that oversees the media in Russia, has successively banned Facebook, Twitter and TikTok. Then, on Friday, the Instagram platform swelled the ranks of blocked networks for Russians.
Censorship also fell on the popular site Meduza, operated from Latvia by Russian journalists in exile, which follows the war in Ukraine day by day.
The last three
And finally, the last three independent Russian media were hit by censorship. Moscow’s popular Echo radio, founded in 1990, was forced to close.
PHOTO ARCHIVES AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Moscow Echo radio studio in the Russian capital, which announced its closure on March 3
Journalists from the Dojd TV station, or Rain TV, announced the end of their activities the same day the law was passed, announcing that it was their “last show of the season”, and saying “no to war” before leaving the set in a scene full of emotion.
And finally, the famous Novaya Gazeta, whose co-founder Dmitry Muratov was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021, states on its web page its intention to continue publishing. But no longer being able to “publish news from the front, due to military censorship”.
Result: it becomes more and more difficult for the Russians who wish to access information contrary to the Kremlin’s discourse.
Russians who want to and are able to can still use VPN access, or the Telegram network which broadcasts news channels, particularly on the war in Ukraine, underlines Oleg Ignatov, analyst of the International Crisis Group in Moscow.
But the vast majority of the Russian public now only gets information from official sources.
However, according to these sources, what is happening in Ukraine “is not a war, but a special operation to fight the Nazis and protect Russia”, says Oleg Ignatov,
“The official narrative is that if Russia had done nothing, it would have come under attack from Ukraine. »
In short, that this operation is largely preventive.
This propaganda is bearing fruit. A poll carried out by a group of Russian NGOs, validated by a renowned American pollster, Gary Langer, and published in the washington post indicates that a majority of 59% of Russians support the intervention in Ukraine.
Made between 28 February and 1er March of 1640 Russians, the poll shows that 46% of Russians strongly support military intervention and 13% moderately support it.
This support is particularly high among people aged 66 and over (75%), and drops to 29% among 18-24 year olds.
Counteroffensive
The censorship that is falling on the Russian media has sent shockwaves around the world. It also sparked counter-offensives.
Thus, three major European newspapers, politics (Denmark), Dagens Nyheter (Sweden) and Helsingin Sanomat (Finland), have decided to broadcast articles in Russian.
Russian mothers need to know that their sons have been killed or injured, that 2 million Ukrainians have fled their country and that millions of Ukrainian children have seen their childhood destroyed.
The editors of the politicsfrom Dagens Nyheter and Helsingin Sanomat, in a joint statement
“We are powerless witnesses to the direct killing of the Russian independent press”, deplores Reporters Without Borders, which observes that there is no longer any space in Russia for freedom of expression and opinion on the war.
The press freedom body has also managed to unblock Meduza, Latvia’s operated Russian news site, which reaches more than 7 million readers a month.
Another technological response to Russian censorship, the BBC has taken over its news in Russian on shortwave, as it did during World War II to circumvent Nazi propaganda.
For its part, the European Court of Human Rights has called on Russia to respect the freedom of expression of Novaya Gazetafollowing a request from its most famous journalist, Dmitry Muratov.