Poorly concealed panic has permeated Russian airwaves this week, with pro-Kremlin pundits arguing not against the war—but against any possibility of a negotiated peace. Western proposals are being treated with the utmost suspicion, and the same goes for any Russians in positions of power who might be willing to consider them.
Appearing on the state TV program Sunday Evening With Vladimir Solovyov, Professor Dmitry Evstafiev brought up a recent article by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, in which he laid out his suggestions for a potential peace process. In Moscow, Kissinger’s proposals were treated as a hostile trap to ensnare Russia’s elite, while state tv pundits attempted to distance themselves from their own elite status.
“The problem with Kissinger’s article is not that he’s luring us into some kind of a trap, but that some are walking into it—which means that they want to do it,” Evstafiev argued. “It should be openly said that within our elites—and perhaps within the government—there is a considerable number of people rooting for Russia’s defeat. Yes, a shy, partial defeat, but let’s call things by their proper names.”
Evstafiev described peace-seeking articles in the Western press as “acts of manipulation” and predicted that their number will keep on growing. Resorting to conspiratorial tone about shadowy Western power brokers, Evstafiev alleged that Kissinger didn’t even read the piece, much less author it. Evstafiev described the willingness of Russian troops to fight until the end and shrieked: “Will our elites fight until the end, or will they be shown a carrot and run after it? What percentage of our elites are ready to sell out?”
Andrei Bezrukov, a Russian spy whose life story served as the inspiration for the TV show “The Americans,” likewise asserted that Kissinger and other Westerners are basing their proposals on the belief that the Russian elite are always ready to betray their country. He proposed that the Yeltsin Center, named after Russia’s former president Boris Yeltsin, be renamed into “Traitors Center,” warning those who are willing to cooperate with the West that they too would be considered traitors to the Motherland.
Host Vladimir Solovyov argued that the West is proposing negotiations solely because Russia’s strategic nuclear arms surpass their own, urging Russian leadership to use the full arsenal of weapons at its disposal. He argued that the superiority of NATO’s conventional arms is reason enough for Russia to turn to nuclear strikes as the way to victory. Andrey Sidorov, Deputy Dean of world politics at the Moscow State University, incredulously asked the host: “Would we like to experience a retaliatory strike?” With bizarre enthusiasm, Solovyov responded: “Yes! Victory starts with not fearing the consequences of your own actions!”
Sidorov cautiously asked: “Are you ready for a war with NATO, for real?” The host preached that the fear of nuclear strikes is the only thing that may stop NATO from continuing to deliver weapons and equipment to help Ukraine defend itself from Russian aggression. Deriding the elite who might consider peace proposals as the traitors to the Motherland, Solovyov extolled the troops he visited on the frontlines.
He tearfully recounted: “When you talk to them, they have no questions about whom they’re fighting and what they’re fighting for… We’ll march all the way to the big puddle and maybe we’ll have to take Washington as well… Until we drive them into the swamp, until only their hand is sticking out of it as they plead: ‘Help me, help me!’ Then we’ll decide what to do with them.”
State media’s nuclear bravado and threats against anyone who might be willing to peacefully negotiate with the West might be used to conceal a very real fear that propagandists—along with military and government officials—would be forced to answer for their war crimes, including public incitement of these actions on state television.
In recent days, multiple state TV programs have warned that Russia’s defeat in this war would lead to war crimes tribunals at the Hague or elsewhere, arguing that the only way of escaping that fate is ensuring Russia’s victory, by any means necessary. During Friday’s broadcast of NTV’s program Our Own Truth, host Roman Babayan led panelists into discussions about the need for Russia’s own war crimes tribunals, which should be set in motion in anticipation of an impending victory over Ukraine.
Russian state media’s push for nuclear attacks continued on Monday’s NTV’s show Meeting Place. Hosts Andrey Norkin and Ivan Trushkin played a clip from a recently released song “Sarmatushka,” celebrating the Russian ballistic missile Sarmat.
Former head of Russia’s space agency, Dmitry Rogozin, took the credit for the deranged lyrics of the song, glorifying the missile’s ability to destroy the United States and NATO. After writer Valery Pecheykin dared to say he wasn’t inspired by the murderous tune, Norkin and Trushkin pounced on him, repeatedly asking whether he was proud of Sarmat. Instead, Pecheykin said: “It’s alleged that our superpower is that we can die better than anybody else… but when will we learn how to live?”
