National holiday

The contrast between today's Russia and Ukraine can be seen in the way the media of neighboring countries covered the exchange of prisoners. For Ukrainians it was a national holiday, for Russian propaganda it was the release of Kirill Vyshinsky. With details - publicist Igor Yakovenko

National holiday

To understand the significance of the exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine for their ruling circles, it is worth looking at how this event was covered by the TV channels of both countries. Formally, the exchange was symmetrical. Planes from Moscow and Kyiv landed almost simultaneously in Borispol and Vnukovo. The number of participants in the exchange is equal - 35 on each side. This is where the similarity ends.

Ukrainian media showed the event of the year. The report of the Ukrainian TV channel Hromadske TV from Boryspil lasted four hours, three of which were dedicated to who exactly they are waiting for in Ukraine. Director Askold Kurov, author of the film "The Trial" about Oleg Sentsov, spoke about how the international community and filmmakers around the world demanded the release of Sentsov. Nikolai Polozov, a lawyer for Ukrainian sailors prisoners of war, explained what Russia would have expected if Putin had not complied with the requirements of the Maritime Tribunal to release those captured in the Kerch Strait.

Ukrainian media showed the event of the year. The reportage of the Ukrainian Hromadske TV channel from Boryspil lasted four hours, of which three were dedicated to who exactly they are waiting for in Ukraine

Fragments of the Hromadske TV report about the meeting itself, at which the freed hostages of the Russian regime were met by a mass of people, and the President of Ukraine Zelensky hugged each of the 35 at the gangplank, shown, among other things, by Russian TV channels.

"Important step"

A symbol of how the state media in Russia, their leaders covered the arrival of the plane from Kiev to Vnukovo, was a tweet by Margarita Simonyan with a group photo of those who were liberated by Ukraine. It has the face of one person - the editor-in-chief of RIA Novosti-Ukraine Kirill Vyshinsky. The rest have no faces. Smeared. And this is understandable, given who exactly Putin's Russia received in return for the Ukrainian hostages. It is quite difficult even for Russian television to make heroes out of Alexander Baranov and Maxim Odintsov, who deserted from the Ukrainian army. Or continue to lie about "it will set in", at the same time showing, for example, Lieutenant of the Russian Armed Forces Alexei Sedikov, who fought on the side of the "LDNR" terrorists.

Russian TV tried to make an event, the only hero of which was Kirill Vyshinsky. He was met alone by employees of the Rossiya 1 TV channel, headed by Olga Skabeeva and the authorities represented by Dmitry Kiselev. They hugged, congratulated, called him a hero, put him in the editorial bus and took him away. The rest, liberated by Ukraine and brought to Vnukovo, were not even approached. They do not exist for Russian TV. Their faces are blurred. And not just faces.

An attempt to turn the release of Kirill Vyshinsky into an event was carried out mainly by the Rossiya 1 TV channel. In the program "Vesti Nedeli" dated September 8, 2019, 14 minutes were devoted to this story, in the program "Sunday Evening with Vladimir Solovyov" - more than an hour.

“Today you are a symbol of the struggle for freedom of speech!” the Ombudsman Moskalkova told Vyshinsky. And after a short pause, she added: “You are a symbol of the struggle for justice!”

In his program, Dmitry Kiselyov divided the story about Vyshinsky's release into two fragments. The first was under the banner “The Most Important Step” and, in particular, they showed how the Russian Ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova, a lady usually stern and quite restrained, suddenly began to hug Vyshinsky and explained to him his role in world history. “Today you are a symbol of the struggle for freedom of speech!” the Ombudsman Moskalkova told Vyshinsky. And after a short pause, she added: “You are a symbol of the struggle for justice!”.

In the second fragment, Kiselyov adorned the back of his studio with a poster: "Exchange as an indicator of change" and, in addition to admiring Vyshinsky's heroism, reservedly praised Ukrainian President Zelensky. No, perhaps he didn’t praise him, but gave him a chance that if he behaves well, then Dmitry Kiselev will praise him in the future.

Unlike Kiselyov, Vladimir Solovyov did not succumb to a moment of weakness in his program and did not, in a fit of sentimentality, reduce the degree of ferocity towards Ukraine. “There is Kirill Vyshinsky and there is Sentsov,” Solovyov said. And he continued specifically about Sentsov: “Ukraine is accepting a terrorist who does not hide that he wanted to kill!” Since director Oleg Sentsov did not kill anyone and never announced his plans to kill anyone, Vladimir Solovyov could not confirm his lies. But this did not bother him, and he moved on to the next topic and began to explain why "Zelensky met the plane, but Putin did not." It turns out that the meeting of those who were released from prison through an exchange is, according to Solovyov, "inappropriate PR", which "there is no point in arranging."

“Tsemakh is a hero! - Solovyov admired, - He is a man, he passed Afghan! He was tortured, and he did not say anything under torture!”

It was very revealing that Solovyov spoke about the man who, apparently, became for Putin the main exchange figure in this “deal”, about the militant of the “DPR” Vladimir Tsemakh, a witness and a possible culprit in the death of a Malaysian Boeing shot down by the Russian Buk air defense system ". “Tsemakh is a hero! - Solovyov admired, - He is a man, he passed Afghan! He was tortured, and he did not say anything under torture!”

Many hours and almost daily stay on the air led Vladimir Solovyov to a state where he actually ceased to understand the meaning of what he himself said. Not only is Tsemakh's key role in the exchange the most convincing evidence of Russia's guilt in the downing of the passenger plane, in his words that Tsemakh "did not say anything under torture," Solovyov confirms that he had something to say.

It is almost impossible to achieve complete "symmetry" in prisoner exchanges. But the media on both sides of the exchange are at least trying to create the illusion of the value of freeing their own for their country. For example, in December 1974, the Western media showed how jubilantly they greeted the Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky, and the Soviet TV showed Leonid Brezhnev hugging and kissing the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Chile, Luis Corvalan, at the airport. In the case of the exchange, which took place on September 7, Russian television failed to create even the illusion of equivalence. No one particularly hides the fact that Ukraine rescued its hostages from Russian captivity, and for Putin it was a deal in which he got a witness to the crime in which Moscow was convicted . Well, for good measure, he dragged another three dozen people to Russia with smeared faces and, I believe, blood-drenched hands.

Photo: cdn.vdmsti.ru