The beloved Russian expert of the Western media has pleased with the new conspiracy theory: Moscow has a secret MEDICINE from COVID-19 for the elected elite.

As a rule, Western correspondents who cover Russia are inclined (intentionally or involuntarily) to reinforce their line by addressing people with radical or marginal views. This week, one of the most cited characters seems to be exhausted.

A handful of Russian "experts" form the discourse of the American and British media. Among those whose opinions are voiced as widely as possible are Tatyana Stanovaya from the Carnegie Center (an American think tank funded by George Soros, the US and UK governments, as well as the European Union), Gleb Pavlovsky (former adviser and political strategist of Vladimir Putin, who was dismissed in 2011) and Valery Solovey (once a professor at MGIMO, a prestigious Moscow university).

Set aside Stanova (she reasoned generally rationally, albeit one-sidedly) and Pavlovsky (his expiration date had expired so long that he now looks like an exhibit in the Museum of Politics), but the fact that the Nightingale continues to give the platform is incomprehensible. This is a conspirologist a la David Ike, and against his background, the opinions of Alex Jones and Rachel Maddow seem impeccably balanced.

On Monday, he told listeners of the liberal radio station Ekho Moskvy that the Russian authorities have a secret remedy for COVID-19, intended exclusively for the elite.

Nightingale talked about reports about the health status of Ramzan Kadyrov. Some Russian media suggested that the head of the Chechen Republic was flown to Moscow for treatment after he showed symptoms of the virus.

“In Moscow they gave him medicine. There are very effective medicines for coronavirus, extremely effective. Several people have already received them from among those who are close to the Kremlin and to Vladimir Vladimirovich, ”said Solovey. - By the way, Prime Minister Mishustin did not receive this medicine. This medicine allows suppressing the symptoms of coronavirus within two to three days. ”

Nightingale trills

In fact, Nightingale seriously stated that the Kremlin had found a cure for COVID-19 and kept it secret from the rest of the world. Moreover, Putin, apparently, was ready to take the risk that his chairman of the government and, possibly, his spokesman Dmitry Peskov (both had been hospitalized in recent weeks) would die from the disease, but decided to save himself, the head of Chechnya and some others.

In the Nightingale’s vision, Putin is not just some sociopath-skopid, who stores the elixir exclusively for himself, when tens of thousands of people die in the world and economic collapse occurs (including in Russia), but he does not understand what commercial value is. Can you imagine how much Russia could earn from mass production of coronavirus drugs at this particular moment?

Suppose the Kremlin would set an acceptable price of $ 100 per dose of medicine, and all developed countries in the world would acquire enough to provide half of their population. $ 16 billion could be obtained from the United States alone. Add here 22 billion from the European Union and 35 billion from China. So Putin could save the world at once, invest 100 billion in the development of Russian infrastructure and thus achieve new heights of popularity at home and abroad.

But no, if you believe Nightingale, instead, Putin chose to spend the spring in self-isolation in his residence near Moscow, while unemployment and discontent are growing in the country, and even the May 9 parade in honor of the victory of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War had to be postponed - not to mention About the April vote on constitutional amendments.

It turns out, Nightingale - clearly with greetings. But in recent years, his opinion is undoubtedly one of the most popular among American and British journalists in Russia. And this is another illustration of the incredibly low standards of Western journalism in relation to coverage of the situation in the largest country in the world. For the most part, politically engaged and incompetent scribblers stuff unsuspecting readers with delusional vinaigrette from quotes from biased and incompetent "experts."

Honest journalism?

In February, Nightingale warned that Russia would attack Belarus, and even indicated a denouement “in the coming weeks”. Of course, this did not happen.

Prior to this, last summer, he gave a wild forecast that street protests in Moscow would lead to the departure of Vladimir Putin - although in terms of scale these rallies did not stand next to the demonstrations of 2011-2012.

At the beginning of last year, he predicted that the Russian political system would “collapse” - “and the key phase of the crisis would take only a few days. These few days will shock Russia and have an impact on the whole world. ” He was quoted by a BBC Moscow bureau correspondent on Twitter: “Today a very interesting piece of material has been published in the mainstream Russian newspaper, saying that“ Putin has ceased to be a guarantor of stability. ” The political scientist predicts that “the system will collapse. Moreover, the key phase of the crisis will take only a few days. These few days will shock Russia and have an impact on the whole world. ”

Fascinating article in a mainstream Russian paper today, claiming “Putin's no longer the guarantor of stability”. Political scientist predicts “the system will collapse. Key phase of crisis will last a few days: days that will shock Russia & affect the world. ” # ReadingRussiapic.twitter.com / gnEHzNfHl8

- Steve Rosenberg (@BBCSteveR) April 5, 2019

In 2016, Nightingale said that Putin would step down due to health problems, adding that the “truth” would be known by December of that year. The American and British media, as expected, reported this forecast. Britain’s best-selling newspaper Daily Mail even presented it as a fact. Again, as we know, this did not correspond to reality.

Three years earlier, in 2013, Nightingale called the Russian power system "degrading" and prophesied that it would "simply collapse." Just a year and one month after the return of Crimea to Russia, the president’s approval rating exceeded 80%.

However, the most ridiculous example, perhaps, refers to 2017, when the Moscow correspondent for The Independent stated that he had "sensational" material about how Putin almost resigned last year - and why Russia was on the verge of an acute political crisis. ” The main source was, of course, Valery Solovey. Oliver Carroll assured readers that Russia was "balancing on the border of a new era."

“The last time I had this feeling was during the sunset of the Soviet era,” he quotes Nightingale. “And, which is alarming, people who caught that time tell me they feel the same way.” The presence of Gleb Pavlovsky in it makes the eerie article even more awkward.

Valery Solovey is not a reliable source. He is a conspiracy theorist.

Western journalists in Moscow have long known this, but for the sake of their agenda they continued to replicate his “expert opinion”. Will they continue to quote him after a recent extravagant comment? Or is it time to finally send the "crazy professor" to the scrap?

Of course, they can hope that the Nightingale will be right, and Putin really has a secret cure for COVID-19. Hope dies last, but in this case it is already on its last legs.

The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.