A state-owned Russian television channel has accused Britain of falsely pinning war crimes on Vladimir Putin’s armed forces. Channel One Russia first appeared on the radar of British viewers when its now former employee Marina Ovsyannikova dashed onto the live set brandishing a banner shouting: “Stop the war. No to war.”
Ovsyannikova has since been fined an equivalent of £215. The channel has continued its claims that Russia is running a "special military operation" instead of the full-scale war that has been unfolding over the past few weeks.
Channel One Russia has however progressed its pro-Putin narrative by going one step further. It has now accused Britain of falsely blaming Putin's army for war crimes.
The accusation was aired during Channel One Russia’s Sunday night broadcast where the topic of discussion was the Ukrainian city of Bucha. As reported by the Express, Channel One Russia presenter Vladimir Solovyov, quoted by Francis Scarr of the BBC, said: “The war against Russia entered a new phase today.
"Very soon they’ll accuse us of genocide. To all appearances this whole provocation was plotted by the British.”
On the screen, Solovyov showed a tweet by Melinda Simmons, the British Ambassador to Ukraine. Amid reports of Russian troops employing sexual violence in Ukraine, Ms Simmons wrote: “Rape is a weapon of war.
"Though we don’t yet know the full extent of its use in Ukraine it’s already clear it was part of Russia’s arsenal. Women raped in front of their kids, girls in front of their families, as a deliberate act of subjugation. Rape is a war crime.”
Channel One’s report suggested to its Russian viewers the West is lying in its approach to the Russia-Ukraine war and will stop at nothing to tar the Putin regime.
This theme continued on Monday, with another Channel One presenter, again quoted by Mr Scarr, bending the words of Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Olga Skabeyeva, told what Mr Scarr described to be her “millions of viewers” that Mr Johnson has vowed to “starve Russia”.
She added: “That’s a direct quote.” It is, however, a misquote. The Prime Minister instead vowed to “starve Putin’s war machine”. In a post on Twitter, he said: “We are stepping up our sanctions and military support, as well as bolstering our humanitarian support package to help those in need on the ground.”
In what could be taken as a direct response to reporting from Channel One, Mr Johnson added: “No denial or disinformation from the Kremlin can hide what we all know to be the truth – Putin is desperate, his invasion is failing and Ukraine’s resolve has never been stronger.”
Another Russia state news agency, RIA Novosti, today published a piece by pundit Timofei Sergeitsev's calls not only for the “de-Nazification” of Ukraine but the “de-Ukrainisation” of Ukraine, according to Mr Scarr. This, Sergeitsev argued, would include “a rejection of the large-scale artificial inflation of the ethnic element of self-identification of the population of the territories [of areas, including Ukraine] begun by the Soviet authorities”.
