Last week, writer and journalist Alexander Prokhanov was honored in a way that even the first United Russia member would never have dreamed of. From Monday to Thursday, the main state channel Rossiya 1 aired a four-part documentary series, “Soldier of the Empire,” in which Prokhanov talks about himself, the Cold War between the USSR and the West, the Soviet Army and its soldiers. There was no anniversary reason. But at the same time as the show, it became known that Prokhanov had been nominated for the Public Television Council, which will be approved by President Vladimir Putin.

In addition to the book "The Last Soldier of the Empire", which gave the series its name, Prokhanov published another notable opus in 2001 - "Mr. Hexogen". The plot is based on the version according to which the explosions of apartment buildings in 1999 were a conspiracy of the authorities for the sake of the Chosen One's accession to the highest post.

"What kind of project was this - the project of creating Putin out of nothing, out of a cloud of shimmering dust? How are the explosions of Moscow apartment buildings considered in the depths of this project?" Prokhanov asked the disgraced Boris Berezovsky in 2002, when he came to London for a long interview. If someone had said then that Putin would approve Prokhanov for the television council, they would have been considered crazy. But 10 years later, this will surprise no one. Now Prokhanov, a former propagandist of the State Emergency Committee, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Den", banned by the Ministry of Justice (and renamed "Zavtra"), is one of the main speakers at pro-Putin rallies.

In an era of reaction – and now is precisely such a moment – the authorities need an ally on the right, supposedly independent of them and even critical of them in some ways, notes political scientist Alexei Makarkin. Against the backdrop of Prokhanov, Putin and his entourage look almost European.

There is a war going on and the front line is right here in the studio, Prokhanov shouted at his liberal opponent Nikolai Svanidze on one of the recent talk shows. It seems that those who elevate the "soldier of the empire" and make him a propagandist for the authorities think in similar militaristic categories. And they have already forgotten that in December, when the creation of Public TV was announced along with other political concessions, the talk was about finding a compromise with the creative class, and not about a merciless war with liberals until sedition is completely eliminated.

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