Anyone who wants to know how the Russians want the Russians to view the situation in the Ukraine conflict has come to the right place with Dmitry Kiselyov.

On Sundays at 8 p.m., the 67-year-old state television man, who has unsuccessfully appealed against being included on the EU sanctions list, presents the “news of the week”, mirror-inverted, so to speak, to the presentation in the West.

Kiselyov describes warnings of a Russian attack on Ukraine as "hysteria" and "russophobic panic".

Frederick Smith

Political correspondent for Russia and the CIS in Moscow.

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A maneuver by the Ukrainian armed forces, which is intended to react to exercises by the Russian armed forces with and in Belarus, "does not look like a defensive maneuver" in the case of Kiselyov.

Rather, the "Kiev regime" is preparing an attack on the "people's republics" of Donetsk and Luhansk.

The Donbass should be "cleansed of everything Russian".

"Thousands of peaceful citizens tortured and bestially killed," Kiselyov announces a post.

In it you can see pictures of corpses, it remains unclear when and where they were taken.

Ukrainian "Nazis" - as the opponents are traditionally portrayed - received weapons from the USA, it is said, boxes arriving at an airport are shown.

"Like the fascists who hang children with wires"

There are also reports of maneuvers by the "Donetsk People's Republic", old tanks and a fighter who protests that the Ukrainians will not be allowed to "hang up children with wires like the fascists did".

Unlike Western reports, Kiselyov's program is not about a possible Russian invasion army of 120,000 to 130,000 men, which President Vladimir Putin has massed on the borders with Ukraine and in the annexed Crimea.

Rather, the Ukraine had assembled an "armada" of 120,000 to 130,000 men against the "people's republics", including "foreign trainers and special forces".

Russia's state media regularly claim the latter, but without any evidence.

The “people's republics” are also the focus of other state television reports: On Monday morning, a representative of the Donetsk entity said on the Rossiya 24 channel that a “provocation” was expected from the Ukrainians, “something is about to explode”.

Western support could result in “Ukraine crossing a 'red line'”.

That was one of many – unidentified – quotes from Putin: When asked about “red lines” and scenarios for military action against Ukraine, the president named threats to residents of the “republics that have not yet been recognized” at the end of November.

A Luhansk representative then paraphrased another statement made by Putin, according to which there was an "open military appropriation of Ukraine" by the West;

this is also supposed to be a “red line” for Putin.

The "People's Republics" are also to be the focus of events this Tuesday in the Duma, the lower house: a vote is to be taken on a request to Putin to recognize the entities as states, as demanded by the pseudo-oppositional communists and as Russia did in 2008 with two areas breakaway from Georgia.

The power party "United Russia", on the other hand, wants to first send the request to the foreign and defense ministries and other authorities.

There are many indications that Putin has not yet decided how he wants to proceed.

On Monday, the President asked his Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, whether it made sense to continue negotiating with the West about the "security guarantees" demanded by Moscow.

Lavrov said the possibilities are currently "far from exhausted".