France 24, which deciphers Ukrainian communication, as on the occasion of President Volodymyr Zelensky's speech to French parliamentarians on Wednesday March 23, also analyzes the Russian point of view, in a brand new column, "Vu de Russie" .

With ten years of experience as France 24 correspondent in Russia, head of the channel's office in Moscow, Elena Volochine has selected two extracts from leading Russian television news, translated and explained on France 24. Pacifism of a heroic Russian army against Ukrainian forces described as "neo-Nazis", demonization of the West, fake news, demonization of the enemy, specter of an American threat:

The Russian army on a "humanitarian" mission against "neo-Nazis"

The first sequence is taken from the first channel of Russian television, Pervi Kanal.

A media that the Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova made known to the whole world by an image that has gone viral: on March 14, in the middle of the television news, she interrupted the presenter by bursting onto the set with a sign on which appeared these words : "no to war, don't believe the propaganda, we are lying to you".

Russian journalist Marina Ovsiannikova protested live on air on March 14, 2022 against the war in Ukraine.

© Screenshot, France 24

Elena Voloshin takes up and explains the three titles of the JT broadcast during prime time on March 22, stated in these terms: 

  • First title: "Rubizhne: the dramatic story of the rescue of the inhabitants of the revenge of the Ukrainian forces, our film crew shared a car with refugees."

Rubizhne is located in the People's Republic of Luhansk, one of two separatist territories, two Oblasts seized from Ukraine in 2014, by means of Russian military support.

"The side that is at war with kyiv, where Ukrainian shells are forced to land, is the only one that has been shown on Russian television since the start of the conflict," notes Elena Voloshin.

However, official sources of information - such as the Pervi Kanal channel - are now the only ones accessible to the Russian public, in a country where the last independent media have been forced to shut down.

On March 21, a Moscow court also banned the American social networks Facebook and Instagram in Russia, considering that they were carrying out "extremist" activities.

  • Second title: "Marioupol and its inhabitants, as soon as the Ukrainian bombardments cease, they come out of the cellars to continue to live."  

"As soon as the Ukrainian bombings stop": words heavy with meaning, insists the head of the France 24 bureau in Moscow.

According to Russian propaganda, it is the Ukrainians alone who are bombing Mariupol, while the Russians are constantly helping Ukrainian civilians in distress. 

One of the main pages of the newspaper is then devoted to the city of Mariupol, "Ukrainian nationalist units" are assimilated there to Nazis, firing "on inhabited neighborhoods", notes Elena Voloshin,

"The humanitarian corridors in our direction are the only chance of salvation", continues the presenter of the Russian newspaper.

Later in the newspaper, it is asserted that the Ukrainians refuse to set up any humanitarian corridor.

  • Third title: "no room for error, our hero-gunners (...) risk their lives and protect their comrades from the fire of the Ukrainian air force, they have shot down aerial targets to the last" 

The goal here, explains the France 24 correspondent in Moscow, is to present the Russian army as "at the cutting edge of technology, ready to risk its life, never missing its targets, which are always military, and therefore never civilian ."

The Russian army is well and truly covered by the media: its spokespersons even make two daily updates with the television channel, notes Elena Voloshin, "but the destruction caused by the Russian army is never shown".

The Russian citizen only has access to satellite images of ultra-targeted strikes, in phase with the official speech of the Kremlin: advanced (Russian) weapons targeting objectives never located in inhabited areas.

The Specter of the "Western Threat"

The head of the France 24 office in Moscow was also interested in the trailers that pass between the newspapers of another continuous news channel, the state television Rossiya 24. 

One of them affirms that Washington would hold "secret laboratories for the production of biological weapons" in Ukraine.

This is a central rhetoric for Moscow, explains the journalist: the one that the United States would constitute a sneaky threat against Russia, even against the world.

On March 11, Russia thus convened the UN Security Council to discuss the use by the United States of these “secret” laboratories.

These accusations are based on a conspiracy theory, which is also promoted by China and the American conspiracy movement QAnon.

During the Rossiya 24 news, the presenter mentions that "4.5 million peaceful inhabitants remain hostages of the Ukrainian neo-Nazis, as in Kharkiv (...) Civilians are still used as human shields (... ) among them are also foreigners from 25 countries."

In addition to glorifying the Russian army, the intended purpose here is twofold, explains the France 24 correspondent in Moscow: to denigrate the actions of the Ukrainian response, while maintaining the myth of the presence of foreign mercenaries, thus dangling the specter of the enemy West.

Russian television also uses "fake news", continues Elena Voloshin.

Rossiya 24 lends France 24 a statement never made by the channel, as follows: "In this report on foreign mercenaries, the mercenaries who were going to go to the front line doubt their decisions", explains the presenter.

Without showing any image of France 24 to support his point.

Rossiya 24 goes on to report "ex-US special forces swear allegiance to the devil";

backing up the point with vague explanations.

"If you haven't understood anything, that's normal," Elena Voloshin quips, before concluding: this is one of the methods of Russian propaganda, which consists of distilling and compiling terms such as "Satanists, Americans, Nazis".

The expected purpose: to terrorize the Russian viewer vis-à-vis the supposed enemy, the West.

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