The Fort Worth Press - Swamped by state media, Russians near Ukraine toe the line

USD -
AED 3.673042
AFN 68.266085
ALL 93.025461
AMD 389.644872
ANG 1.80769
AOA 912.000367
ARS 1001.795932
AUD 1.547988
AWG 1.795
AZN 1.70397
BAM 1.85463
BBD 2.025224
BDT 119.861552
BGN 1.854725
BHD 0.376464
BIF 2962.116543
BMD 1
BND 1.344649
BOB 6.930918
BRL 5.79695
BSD 1.002987
BTN 84.270352
BWP 13.71201
BYN 3.282443
BYR 19600
BZD 2.02181
CAD 1.41005
CDF 2865.000362
CHF 0.888255
CLF 0.035345
CLP 975.269072
CNY 7.232504
CNH 7.23645
COP 4499.075435
CRC 510.454696
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 104.561187
CZK 23.965904
DJF 178.606989
DKK 7.07804
DOP 60.43336
DZD 133.184771
EGP 49.296856
ERN 15
ETB 121.465364
EUR 0.94835
FJD 2.27595
FKP 0.789317
GBP 0.792801
GEL 2.73504
GGP 0.789317
GHS 16.022948
GIP 0.789317
GMD 71.000355
GNF 8643.497226
GTQ 7.746432
GYD 209.748234
HKD 7.785135
HNL 25.330236
HRK 7.133259
HTG 131.85719
HUF 387.22504
IDR 15898.3
ILS 3.744115
IMP 0.789317
INR 84.47775
IQD 1313.925371
IRR 42092.503816
ISK 137.650386
JEP 0.789317
JMD 159.290693
JOD 0.709104
JPY 154.340504
KES 129.894268
KGS 86.503799
KHR 4051.965293
KMF 466.575039
KPW 899.999621
KRW 1395.925039
KWD 0.30754
KYD 0.835902
KZT 498.449576
LAK 22039.732587
LBP 89819.638708
LKR 293.025461
LRD 184.552653
LSL 18.247689
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 4.898772
MAD 9.999526
MDL 18.224835
MGA 4665.497131
MKD 58.423024
MMK 3247.960992
MNT 3397.999946
MOP 8.042767
MRU 40.039827
MUR 47.210378
MVR 15.450378
MWK 1739.225262
MXN 20.35475
MYR 4.470504
MZN 63.903729
NAD 18.247689
NGN 1665.820377
NIO 36.906737
NOK 11.08797
NPR 134.832867
NZD 1.704318
OMR 0.384524
PAB 1.002987
PEN 3.80769
PGK 4.033
PHP 58.731504
PKR 278.485894
PLN 4.096724
PYG 7826.086957
QAR 3.656441
RON 4.725204
RSD 110.944953
RUB 99.872647
RWF 1377.554407
SAR 3.756134
SBD 8.390419
SCR 13.840372
SDG 601.503676
SEK 10.978615
SGD 1.343704
SHP 0.789317
SLE 22.603667
SLL 20969.504736
SOS 573.230288
SRD 35.315504
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.776255
SYP 2512.529858
SZL 18.240956
THB 34.842038
TJS 10.692144
TMT 3.51
TND 3.164478
TOP 2.342104
TRY 34.447038
TTD 6.810488
TWD 32.476804
TZS 2667.962638
UAH 41.429899
UGX 3681.191029
UYU 43.042056
UZS 12838.651558
VES 45.732111
VND 25390
VUV 118.722009
WST 2.791591
XAF 622.025509
XAG 0.033067
XAU 0.00039
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.755583
XOF 622.025509
XPF 113.090892
YER 249.875037
ZAR 18.18901
ZMK 9001.203587
ZMW 27.537812
ZWL 321.999592
  • BCC

    -0.2600

    140.09

    -0.19%

  • NGG

    0.3800

    62.75

    +0.61%

  • RIO

    0.5500

    60.98

    +0.9%

  • RBGPF

    61.8400

    61.84

    +100%

  • CMSD

    0.0822

    24.44

    +0.34%

  • SCS

    -0.0400

    13.23

    -0.3%

  • BCE

    -0.0200

    26.82

    -0.07%

  • JRI

    0.0235

    13.1

    +0.18%

  • CMSC

    0.0200

    24.57

    +0.08%

  • GSK

    -0.6509

    33.35

    -1.95%

  • AZN

    -1.8100

    63.23

    -2.86%

  • RELX

    -1.5000

    44.45

    -3.37%

  • BTI

    0.9000

    36.39

    +2.47%

  • VOD

    0.0900

    8.77

    +1.03%

  • RYCEF

    0.0400

    6.82

    +0.59%

  • BP

    -0.0700

    28.98

    -0.24%

Swamped by state media, Russians near Ukraine toe the line
Swamped by state media, Russians near Ukraine toe the line

Swamped by state media, Russians near Ukraine toe the line

As the Kremlin's forces unleash devastating firepower in Ukraine, some Russians living near the frontier are buying the government's line portraying the invasion as righteous and necessary.

Text size:

It is a line obediently parroted by state media, and the campaign to convince the population appears to be working in some parts.

"Bombardments in Kyiv?" asks 80-year-old Vladimir Karavayev doubtfully when questioned by an AFP journalist.

"There can't be any other solution then," he says eventually.

He regularly watches the evening news on Russia's tightly-controlled state television, and doubts there will be a "major conflict".

"And anyway, over there, there's injustice and the Nazis are in power," he adds before shuffling off with his bicycle.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly called the leadership in Ukraine "Nazis" in his various justifications for the assault on the country.

The Kremlin invaded its pro-Western neighbour on Thursday, in what Putin branded a "special military operation" to support Russian-speaking separatists in the east who were facing a "genocide".

He said Russia was looking to "demilitarise" and "de-Nazify" Ukraine.

It's a narrative trotted out by loyal officials and state media, especially state TV viewed by millions across Russia every day.

Russian authorities closely dictate media coverage in the country, and this week banned the press from citing anything other than official state sources to report what is happening in Ukraine.

Independent newspapers and online outlets have been taken over by Kremlin cronies or snuffed out, and a growing number of journalists targeted as "foreign agents".

Moscow's justification for the assault is denied by Kyiv and derided internationally as a falsehood spread to justify military aggression.

- 'Putin will protect us' -

But in Russia, it's a different story.

Lyudmila Yakovenko, 38, works on a farm a few dozen kilometres from the border with east Ukraine, where Kremlin-backed separatists had carved out two enclaves.

Currently on maternity leave, she says she can hear the sound of the war when the wind blows in her direction.

"Especially in the evening, we really hear the shooting, the planes," she says, holding her young daughter by the hand.

She follows official news outlets and says she "has the television on all the time".

For her, it is the Ukrainians who are attacking Russia.

"We hope that Putin will protect us from... the Ukrainians. Putin spoke to the Ukrainians and said: put down your weapons, go home," she says.

"Our soldiers are at the border but they don't shoot, Putin doesn't allow them to open fire, he doesn't want this war."

Standing under a statue of Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin in a border village, 54-year-old Yevgeny Kotegov insists there is no fighting or Russian attack.

"Russia is conducting tactical training on its own territory. Their mission? It's not to allow an invasion of Russia," says the retired military academy instructor.

Nikita Mishenko, 28, is alone among those with whom AFP spoke to have any doubts about what he sees on television and reads in the newspapers.

"I know that there are outbreaks of war", the electronics repairman begins timidly.

"You shouldn't believe everything you see on TV and on social media. You have to think for yourself."

He is the only one who has heard about the battles raging around the key southern port city of Mariupol or the offensive towards Kyiv.

"Both sides have their reasons and their faults," he says.

Others agree. On Thursday, anti-war rallies were held across Russia as thousands took the streets to denounce Putin's invasion.

More than 1,800 people were arrested in several cities, according to reports Friday.

J.M.Ellis--TFWP