Russian opposition activits have been represented by a man who was masking his face.
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Unsystematic Errors
Russian national TV channels did a lot of work exposing conspiracies of those “who act like jackals at foreign embassies to capitalize at your expense”. Kommersant Vlast's columnist Arina Borodina watched how this genre was used in media coverage of the latest Dissenters’ March.
When Russia sees opposition rallies or other large demonstrators against “Putin’s plan” I sit down in front of the television with particular attention and a remote control from a video recorder, a notepad and a pen and wait for the Kremlin’s creative stuff from Pervy Kanal, Rossia or NTV.
A classic example of it was an interview after the Dissenters’ March in April when an anonymous “provocateur” said to the camera that the rally’s organizers had paid him $100 to pour ketchup on himself to imitate blood. The irony of this exposure that anyone could get a truncheon on their head for free from riot police that day.
In coverage about the Dissenters’ Marches in Moscow and St. Petersburg on November 24 and 25 no one was pouring ketchup on anyone. But “Voskresnoye Vremya” on Pervy Kanal on November 25 showed a young man with half of his face masked. The person stood at one of St. Petersburg embankments looking in the camera and making one confession after another: “I came here to defend Kasparov if police attack him. I was paid for this. But he is nowhere round. I’m just standing here and don’t know what to do.” The speech was interrupted by swear words twice that TV people beeped in the way that viewers could understand which word taht opposition mercenary was using. Of course, the viewers were not told that the masked man had no chances to find Garry Kasparov at the rally. The thing is, the leader of the United Civil Front had been in custody for one day by that time for his participation in the Dissenters’ March in Moscow. But viewers of national TV stations never learnt about it.
TV coverage did not fail to mention self-exiled tycoon Boris Berezovsky although it was only Pervy Kanal that linked him to the Dissenters’ March while both Rossia and NTV made the connection in their reports back in April. President Putin’s words about those “acting like jackals at foreign embassies” have found a reflection on national TV stations. Right after the anonymous man’s confession of being paid to support Garry Kasparov, Pervy Kanal’s correspondent Kirill Brainin said in Voskresnoye Vremya: “Pay for the radical-dissenter labor came from Britain. According to Mr. Berezovsky quoted by Interfax, he is financing the movement of people so that they take to the streets and use force.”
This time, Pervy Kanal became an undisputed leader in staged reports. Another participant of the March – this time in Moscow – was also dressed in black, held a banner and said to the camera with a happy smile: “Your guys came over to our Ukraine to see the Orange Revolution, now we’re here to help you.” The authors did not even notice that the “Ukrainian revolutionary” was speaking right into the camera and to the correspondent that he apparently thought to be his allies. It looked totally ridiculous.
This episode was shown on November 24 in news with a commentary: “Opposition did not hide the fact that they want to use experience of their counterparts from neighboring states”. On the following day the footage was shown in full in Voskresnoye Vremya. Correspondent Kirill Brainin claimed that Ukrainians came to the Dissenters’ March to share experience.
Rossia’s Vesti had a funny blunder in synchronizing the footage and voice-over. A correspondent was saying that the Dissenters’ March in Moscow paralyzed the traffic in Garden Ring. They showed a lady who was asking to let her car with a baby in the front seat pass. The correspondent emphasized the opposition’s cold hearts and contrasting good nature of riot police that let the mother and her child drive by. But one could clearly hear at the background: “Come on buys, let her pass by!” It is hard to image that riot police was so nice with the opposition. Afterwards, one could see that the riot policeman agreed to the people’s request, said “Okay, let her go” and let the car pass.
No opposition rally is missed by reporter Arkady Mamontov. On November 25, Rossia TV channel made a repeat of his documentary Barkhat.ru, first on air in September, about conspiracies of the CBI and the U.S. Department of State and the way they organized Color Revolutions in CIS countries and encroached on our “vast, beautiful, general land with a lot of riches”. With a recent news hook Mr. Mamontov added new footage of the Dissenters’ March to the documentary and lashed out at the Union of Right Forces whose leaders want to “regain power they lost in 2000”.
He first lambasted at Boris Nemtsov and Nikita Belykh but he did not stop at that: “Children of those who were trying to ruin the country in the 1990s, were humiliating the people, looming and making money out of it are no better.” The camera then showed Maria Gaidar, leader of the Union of Right Forces’ Moscow election list leader and daughter of former Prime Minister Egor Gaidar. The footage is then followed by pictures downloaded from the Internet with Arkady Mamontov’s comments: “Here is a posh Moscow club 16 Tonns where the young right opposition leader is celebrating her birthday.” Like an annalist, Mr. Mamontov goes on: “There is plenty of everything – expensive booze and snacks.” I wonder if he had checked the bills before saying that it was expensive. He went on to discuss Ilya Yashin, leader of the youth Yabloko movement. Showing a picture from the same birthday party Arkady Mamontov made a clear hint about homosexuality of the “young rich scapegrace”.
If we forget about young opposition leaders (and the fact that 16 Tonns is quite an ordinary Moscow club), it will be easy to notice that Arkady Mamontov made an important discovery. As Vladimir Putin has been signing laws for several years and endorsing economic strategies drafted by the Institute for the Economy in Transition he was using services of the institute’s director Egor Gaidar, the man who was “trying to ruin, loot and make money” out of this country. Mr. Gaidar is the man that Mr. Mamontov is alluding to.
But maybe not him only? What about the late St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly Sobchak who was in office in the 1990s. In this sense, Arkady Mamontov’s documentary could have featured his daughter, Ksenia Sobchak who frequents clubs much more ritzy that 16 Tonns. But the documentary’s author did not think about it.
But what would you expect from Arkady Mamontov if he says in St. Petersburg Governor’s election advert: “There was a time not long ago when St. Petersburg was falling into decay and the residents said they were losing their city. Only with the coming of President Putin did the city get a new breath. It was for the first time in many-many years that the city started to believe in itself.”
Just like Arkady Mamontov, Valentina Matvienko and United Russia’s creative team have a short memory. When “St. Petersburg was falling into decay” they were led by Anatoly Sobchak and his deputy Vladimir Putin.
Arina Borodina
All the Article in Russian as of Dec. 03, 2007
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