A Marxist-Leninist-flavored dissent disrupted Russian state TV this week. But does it matter?
Of all the damning assessments of Russia’s military performance in Ukraine, the most unexpected, and possibly the most consequential one, aired on Russian state television this week.
In a daily debate show called Sixty Minutes, that is normally confined to the tight parameters of the Kremlin’s narrative of the war or “special operation” in Ukraine (“war” is fake news as far as the Russian government is concerned and spreading fake news is punishable by 15 years in prison), former colonel-turned-military-journalist Mikhail Khodaryonok warned of Russia’s geopolitical isolation and said Russians were detached from reality.
“Sooner or later the reality of history will hit hard, it will be a huge blow,” Khodaryonok said.
With the U.S. military equipment lend lease about to kick in, and with the European weapons now flooding Ukraine, Khodaryonok predicted the situation for Russia was “about to get worse.” He even played the Marx-and-Lenin card, ever relevant for the Russians, to fortify his argument. Followers of Marxism-Leninism, he said, have always said that “ultimately victory on the battlefield is determined by a high level of morale among personnel.”