Used Anton

We restore the chronology of the removal of the propagandist Krasovsky from the RT channel and try to understand what this is actually connected with

On the night of October 23 to 24, it became known about the removal of the propagandist Anton Krasovsky from work on the Russia (RT) television channel. Claims arose to an interview with Krasovsky with the Russian science fiction writer Sergei Lukyanenko, in which the journalist called for “drowning and burning” Ukrainian children who believe that Ukraine is occupied by Russia. The dismissal of the scandal on RT did not end: in the morning, the host took up arms already in the State Duma and the Investigative Committee. Correspondent of Novaya Gazeta. Europe ”restores the chronology of this scandal to understand why Krasovsky’s words caused condemnation in the propaganda environment, where such bloodthirstiness was not uncommon.

- <...> I was told about the fact that Ukraine is occupied by Muscovites. If not for Muscovites, they would live like in France. Moreover, these were not Ukrainian children who speak Ukrainian. They were also there, and they were absolutely normal,-so recalled his children's experience in Transcarpathia, the science fiction writer Sergey Lukyanenko, in the program “Antonims” of the Russia Today television channel ( the conversation is given with insignificant abbreviations - ed. ).

- And what, where did these children come from? - interrupted his permanent host of the program, journalist Anton Krasovsky.

- These were completely Russian -speaking, with Russian surnames of the boys <...>.

- And it was necessary to drown such in the tympanese, right where the "sizes of the rocking". Direct directly, drown in a thousand. This is not your method, so you are intelligent people and fantasy writers, but this is our method. He directly said that the Muscovites were occupied - and immediately throw it into the river with a stormy course, - Krasovsky continued to instruct him with enthusiasm, crookedly referring to the Ukrainian song “Pliva Kacha in Tisini ...”, which in 2014 was put on the dead activists of the Euromaidan. After another long monologue, the presenter went further and offered the children to "burn in Sickle huts." After the broadcast continued.

Propaganda on the bones

Anton Krasovsky, journalist and former director of the AIDS Center Foundation, began to cooperate with Russia Today in 2019. In October 2020, Krasovsky took the position of broadcasting director in Russian, and in 2021 he became the host of the author’s program “Antonyma”. In “Antonyms”, the journalist interviewed public persons: politicians, businessmen, cultural figures - and sometimes he himself discussed about the events of the news agenda. One of his last guests were artist Nadezhda Babkina and Governor of Sevastopol Mikhail Razvozhaev. With them, as with the rest of the guests recently, he discussed the war in Ukraine - of course, from a pro -Russian point of view.

The release of “Antonimov” with the writer Sergei Lukyanenko (the author of “Night Watch” and other books of this series) was published in the RT-Russia group last week, October 20 (now the interview is deleted ). As Medusa noted, Krasovsky even managed to recommend it to his subscribers in Telegram. The presenter wrote that he had a wonderful broadcast with the writer, but then deleted this message (it was preserved in the web archive).

At first, no one particularly noticed the scandalous issue of Antonyms. For Russian propaganda, cruelty is not news, especially against the backdrop of a long war in Ukraine. And Anton Krasovsky was not famous for the tact and goodwill. Once he even suggested “drowning children”, however, not Ukrainian, but Russian.

After the campaign in support of Navalny on April 21, 2021, the presenter said that this was what he would do with protesting Petersburgers if he had ruled the country instead of Vladimir Putin. I would have drowned in the sink.

The journalist spoke out about the war no less sharply - so much so that in June the office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine opened a criminal case on the calls to the genocide (part 2 of article 442, part 3 of article 109 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) against Krasovsky.

The massive shelling of Ukraine on October 10, 2022, one of the largest from the beginning of the war, the propagandist met a short video that he shot on the balcony in the pajamas of the Russian Army and in a cap with the letter "Z". “To say that I am happy is to say nothing at all,” Krasovsky wrote in a telegram channel. Then Russia launched about 160 missiles through the territory of a neighboring country.

In an interview with Lukyanenko, they paid attention on Sunday, October 23. An excerpt from an interview with English subtitles was postponed on Twitter Julia Davis, Columnist of the Daily Beast and the creator of the Russian Media Monitor project. This tweet was reacted by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmitry Kuleb.

- The governments that have not yet forbidden RT should see this passage. That's on whose side you are if you allow RT to work in your countries. Aggressive incitement to genocide (this person will appear before the court), nothing in common with freedom of speech. Elew RT all over the world!, - wrote the Foreign Minister of Ukraine on his Twitter.

The script for scandals in Russian propaganda could be completely ordinary, if not for one “but”. On the night of October 24, RT editor Margarita Simonyan stated that the channel was stopping cooperation with the leading Anton Krasovsky, calling his statement “wild and disgusting”.

"Just tired"

The cessation of cooperation with Russia Today (no matter what it means) to Opul Krasovsky does not end. They opposed the TV presenter in the State Duma: for example, the deputy from United Russia Dmitry Savelyev called the reports of the journalist “a monstrous provocation” and urged him immediately to detain him and as soon as possible to condemn him by maximum rigor of the law. The Investigative Committee also made a similar proposal: on the morning of Monday, the head of the UK Alexander Bastrykin instructed investigators to check the statements of the host of RT of Anton Krasovsky because of the call to “drown” and “burn” Ukrainian children-supposedly after the “Internet user” appeal.

All this happened, despite the fact that Krasovsky even apologized for his words: on the night of October 24, a few hours after the publication of Margarita Simonyan, a message appeared in the Anton Vyacheslavovich telegram channel in which Krasovsky said that he was “truly awkward” that he did not see the borders of “about children”.

- Well, it happens like this: you sit on the air, it carries you. And you cannot stop. I apologize to everyone who was stunned by this. I apologize to Margarita, for everyone who seemed wild, unthinkable and insurmountable for whom it seemed. I hope you forgive me, ”the journalist wrote.

The guest of the scandalous show, science fiction at Lukyanenko, decided to justify himself. As the writer said , the release of Antonymov, in which a sized phrase sounded, was actually not a direct broadcast. According to Lukyanenko, he was invited to record programs in the daytime. The writer insists that the producers literally persuaded him to come, since he refused to participate in the program for a long time, knowing about her "provocative style." The words of the journalist even then he did not like.

- What exactly was from Krasovsky that he began to talk about the burning of children, nuclear strikes and otherwise - I do not know. I had the feeling that he was trying to promote me to some extremist statements. Maybe this is his usual manner, I don’t know. Or maybe the temporary darkenness of consciousness caused by some reasons, ”the writer wrote on his page on VKontakte.

He did not want to arrange a “tantrum” and not want to leave the filming, because when the journalist “brings game”, he needs to object.

The objections of Sergei Lukyanenko were that he suggested not to drown the children, but to seal them with rods, and indeed called such measures “extremism”.

After the start of disgrace on Krasovsky in Russian propaganda, a fairly wide range of opinions appeared. For example, pro -government political scientist Sergei Markov generally wrote that Krasovsky called for “drowning children” on the instructions of the US intelligence services, recalling the leading work at Ksenia Sobchak in the 2018 election.

Despite the threats of the UK, someone even decided to support the propagandist, saying that he was "just tired." This position was made by Russian singer Julia Chicherina, supporting the war in Ukraine.

“I want to note that after hard stress, when they want to kill you, and you miraculously survived, if you haven’t lived in the war for many years and are not used to death and bombing, and your work is very responsible with straight broadcasts for a huge audience, you need to go on vacation for a couple of weeks, turn off the phone and everything will come to normal,” Chicherina wrote in telegram.

RT, Russian nationalist Yegor Kholmogorov, also spoke in support of Krasovsky. At first, the propagandist published a message in which he had parallels with the Patriotic War of 1812 and stated that then with the same motivation could be “dismissed” by Kutuzov for the arson of Moscow. Later, the propagandist deleted this message and published a new one, in which he called the discussion of the calls to “kill children” with a substitution and manipulation. And the correspondent of Komsomolskaya Pravda Dmitry Steshin said that you can’t just take and dismiss the person who did so much for his and Donbass.

Political scientists evaluate the dismissal of one of the most high-profile propagandists in different ways.

Abbas Gallamov

Political strategist

- It is important not so much the name of Krasovsky, any propagandist could be in his place. It is important that new circumstances have appeared in Russian propaganda. Today it turned out that not everything is allowed to propagandists. It used to seem that the principle prevails that the more tin, the better. Now it suddenly turns out that it is possible to drive only until some point, and then the system will make you a claim. This is not only the dismissal of Margarita Simonyan, but also a unanimous reaction [of Russian politicians and officials]. Both Bastrykin and United Russia in the State Duma opposed. That is, all this is agreed with the Kremlin. This is a sign story. Obviously, some boundaries will be outlined now, and it will be necessary to understand where they will go.

This is a new configuration in Russian propaganda. The Russian leadership can no longer afford to talk with the outside world from the standpoint of strength. Now we must adapt to public opinion, both within the country and abroad.

Fedor Krasheninnikov

political scientist

- The situation is now extremely vague. We do not know what is really happening, so we can see completely different development of the situation. Starting with the fact that Krasovsky will appear on the air in a month or two, as if nothing had happened, and all these checks will turn out to be completely formal. Campaigns to launder Krasovsky will begin, there will be performances that he got excited and said something wrong in an fit of enthusiasm. "With whom it does not happen." Moreover, during these months, so much everything can happen that the scandal will simply disappear. Now the fronts are a difficult situation, soon all the propagandists will be needed again.

There is another probability that he will now be exemplaryly punished and removed from the air. This can be both exemplary flogging [for the rest] and revenge of Krasovsky himself. He could already get bored with his whims for the same Margarita Simonyan. In addition, it is clear that an open gay can hardly cause warm feelings among crazy old people in the leadership of [country]. I think they all despise him deeply in their souls and just suffered him all this time. Now Krasovsky is outdated, and from the channels all these elderly homophobes decided to simply remove him: “There is nothing to keep it with state money.”