Oleg Kashin: “Conspiracy theories, in their most absurd manifestations, are rapidly becoming fashionable”

On January 23, 2006, Oleg Kashin's operational commentary on the "spy scandal" appeared on the Civil Club website . The commentary is titled "Thanks to the FSB and the Rossiya TV channel" and has the subtitle "In pursuit of PR, the special services and television dealt a blow to the country's reputation."

Obviously, writes O. Kashin, "the main characters of the scandal are Russian citizens, the very human rights activists who financed the British were 'caught red-handed'" . The MHG and its leader, "neutral and loyal to Alekseev, were written down almost as British spies" .

“Finding out why all this shame is needed can take a long time and it’s not a fact that this clarification will lead to any clear result. Maybe the media plan for information support of the new law on NGOs was in jeopardy, and we had to urgently and clumsily catch up ... Maybe someone in the Federal Security Service did not very well decide to remind himself of himself... One thing is certain - instead of a propaganda success that could strengthen Russia's position in the dispute with the West over non-profit organizations that has been going on for several months now, the Russian the authorities, at the suggestion of their special services and the television department, have given all their ill-wishers a real royal gift. Everyone who attributes spy mania and an atmosphere of fear to the real features of Putin's Russia has finally received a real ... trump card .

The author recalls the publication of the newspaper "Life" that appeared almost simultaneously with the transfer of Arkady Mamontov, from which it follows that Alexander Koptsev , who attacked the Moscow synagogue, has long been acquainted with Eduard Limonov. "It seems that conspiracy theory in its most ridiculous manifestation is rapidly becoming fashionable, no less rapidly reducing the reaction of society to any leak from the special services to bewildered laughter and bitter irony ," concludes O. Kashin.

Sources

• Kashin O. Thanks to the FSB and the Rossiya TV channel // Civil club. 2006. January 23.