Russia: Putin cut by TV blackout during celebrations
Russian President Vladimir Putin on the eighth anniversary of the annexation of Crimea and Sevastopol by Russia, March 18, 2022. © Ramil Sitdikov/AP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Vladimir Putin was praising the Russian soldiers serving in Ukraine, for the anniversary of the annexation of Crimea, in front of several thousand people, when the television began to broadcast images shot before his speech .
The unprecedented incident sparked a lot of questions and comments on social networks, but the Kremlin assures us that it was a simple technical error.
Advertising
Read more
The image is meant to be controlled: Vladimir Putin is alone on stage in front of tens of thousands of people gathered inside the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow.
The Russian president came to celebrate as every year the anniversary of the
annexation of Crimea
.
"
Z
"s adorn the chests of speakers performing in front of the crowd, this letter having become
a patriotic symbol
, as it is inscribed on many Russian tanks deployed in combat zones.
The opportunity for Vladimir Putin to praise the Russian soldiers engaged in Ukraine: “
The words that come to me are those of the Bible
: there is no greater love than to lay down your life for your friends.
And the best illustration of that is how our guys fight.
Shoulder to shoulder, they help each other, and protect each other like brothers.
We had not seen such unity for a long time.
»
Transmission of Putin's speech suddenly cuts.
Funny business with Russian TV.
Kremlin can't help itself.
pic.twitter.com/VrT9SMOonO
— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) March 18, 2022
"Technical failure"
On Russian television, the president's speech is supposed to be broadcast live.
But suddenly, the Head of State is interrupted in the middle of a sentence on the antennas.
Vladimir Putin disappears from the screens, replaced by images shot before his speech, those of a singer chanting "
Russia ahead!"
»
The interruption will last a few minutes before the Russian president reappears and the end of the speech is broadcast.
An unusual incident for Russian state television, which has however become accustomed to broadcasting this kind of event on a delayed basis.
For the Kremlin, there was no desire to sabotage the broadcast of the speech.
This is a simple "
technical failure
", said Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.
The event was also marked by the patriotic songs of famous singers.
Oleg Gazmanov took over the hit “Made in the USSR”, which notably proclaims “
Ukraine and Crimea, Belarus and Moldova, this is my country
”.
►Also read: International guest - Russian public opinion won over to Putin
?
“
It is an adherence to the established order
”
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Vladimir Poutine
Ukraine
Russia
Media