Putin attacking the media

(Compare Putin's attack on the media here with Trump)

The first major test for Putin was the Kursk nuclear submarine disaster.

On August 12, 2000, the ninety-seventh day of his presidency, the vessel sank in the Barents Sea.

Putin thought nothing of it at first, as the military reported that everything was under control and would soon be put right, and so he departed for his vacation in Sochi.

A rescue operation began only the following day, when it became clear that the 118 crew members on board were trapped at a depth of 108 meters.

Still, it took Putin another five days to interrupt his holiday and return to Moscow, for which he was slaughtered in the press.

On August 22, when news broke that all 118 sailors had perished, Putin went to meet relatives of the victims in the coastal village of Vidjaevo, in the northern region of Murmansk.

The meeting did not go well.

The hysterical relatives accused Putin of inaction and the military of time-wasting and incompetence for not seeking assistance from abroad.

In response, Putin attacked the TV coverage of the incident, asserting three times that the public had been “lied to” by reporters and media owners.

He began by saying, “There are people on TV today who shout and scream, yet over the past decade they’re the ones who’ve destroyed the army and navy in which people are now dying.

Today they’re lining up to defend the armed forces, but tomorrow they’ll try to ruin them even more!

They’ve stolen everything and have everyone in their pockets! They legalized theft!”

In the middle of the meeting, he returned to this theme: “They stole money, bought up the media, and now manipulate public opinion.”

And in conclusion: “Their logic is very simple. Target the mass audience to show the military and political leadership that we need them, that they have us on a hook and that we should be afraid of them, listen to them and accept that they will continue to rob the country, the army, and the navy.

That is their true purpose.

We cannot simply tell them to stop. That would be the right thing to do, but it has to be done more subtly.

We need to implement our own information policy. But that requires effort, money, and right-minded people.”

'All the Kremlin's Men: Inside the Court of Vladimir Putin' by Mikhail Zygar
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XKQSJ8G