Russian propagandists could be tried in the Hague, Putin ducks annual press meet, and Musk enables abuse
PROSECUTING PROPAGANDISTS IN THE HAGUE
Every morning when I open Telegram, my feed is full of Russian propaganda. Unfortunately, when you're a journalist, especially a Russian journalist in exile, you have to keep up with the talking points of the state-sponsored propagandists.
Chief among them is Olga Skabeeva, who has almost 200,000 subscribers on her Telegram channel. In one post, just a few days ago, she wrote, and I’m translating literally, “in Ukraine, the sound of generators is the most common after the sound of ‘Geraniums.’” In Russia, the Iranian-made Shahed-136 kamikaze drones that are being deployed in battle are also called “Geranium-2” and are increasingly being used to cripple Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure.
Another example of the crass cheerleading I see is the channel operated by Anton Krasovsky, an openly gay man who sees no contradiction in working for the homophobic Russian government. Last month, Krasovsky called for the burning and drowning of Ukrainian children on Russia Today. He was suspended but I wouldn’t be surprised if he reappears on air sooner rather than later.
Faced with this sort of content on a daily basis, it is fair to ask: how can we hold these propagandists accountable when Putin's regime ends?