Tele snitching

The Russian regime must be really scared of the opposition, albeit very weak and divided. The March of Millions failed to produce the numbers advertised in their name, and the oppositionists keep squabbling among themselves. This has created a particularly comfortable situation for the regime. Why increase the tension and bring up opposition stories in the media? We can only wonder. But every time a rally or another mass event is scheduled in Moscow’s streets or squares, Russian TV channels NTV or Rossia 1, or more likely, they both simultaneously, show films featuring vile oppositionists who have been plotting with external forces to destroy the Russian state.

A new film by the odious TV journalist Arkadiy Mamontov Provokatory-3 (Agents Provocateurs 3) is just another proof of this rule. The story is the same: the opposition and its conspiracies. Actually, predicting the general trend of Mamontov’s next TV opus was not such a hard task. Mamontov has long been known for unscrupulous treatment of facts, or more precisely, for their distortion and preparation. This is also true for his coverage of the developments in Ukraine’s political life and history. It is nothing more than another propagandist lie. It is easy to believe that it was commissioned by relevant Russian authorities, and that there is nothing more to discuss. We have seen enough of these, and will probably see some more on our northern neighbor’s TV channels.

The authors of the documentary project Srok (Term) Aleksey Pivovarov, Pavel Kostomarov, and Aleksandr Rastorguyev have expressed (in Livejournal and Pivovarov’s personal Facebook page) their indignation at Mamontov’s having illegally used fragments of their film in his Agents Provocateurs 3. The authors of Term believe that the cut has changed the meaning of their video materials.

According to the data provided by the Ukrainian newspaper Kommersant, the authors of Term are holding consultations concerning the possibility of taking legal actions for illegal use of their material.

The possible outcome and the verdict of the Russian court are not so hard to predict. This will not be happening for the first time. What is more important is the goal of broadcasting this kind of television production.

Following the NTV channel’s previous programs (in particular, the film Anatomiya protesta-2 (Anatomy of a Protest 2), the Investigative Committee of Russia (SKR) initiated an inspection of possible terrorist activities and preparations for a coup d’etat by Udaltsov and his followers.

As it generally happens, this entire story has a considerable detective element. Aleksey Malkov, head of the NTV program “Emergency. Investigation,” said that the NTV journalists had got the video of a meeting between Udaltsov and his supporters, which was later used in the film Anatomy of a Protest 2 from an “unidentified Georgian man” in the street. Malkov made the statement at the procedure of choosing a restriction measure for Konstantin Lebedev, a Left Front activist.

The meeting in question, shown in a scene from Anatomy of a Protest 2, took place in Minsk, where Udaltsov met the then chair of Georgia’s parliamentary committee on defense and security, Givi Targamadze, Georgia’s consul in Moldova Mikheil Iashvili, as well as their three aides. According to the authors of the film, Targamadze is an expert in preparing “color revolutions” in Georgia and Ukraine, and of mass riots in Belarus.

The key fragment of the film, an alleged footage of a conversation between Udaltsov and Targamadze, was attested as blatant fake by many bloggers. For instant, a certain sequence of images is shown twice in the fragment, accompanied by different soundtracks, while the voices of the interlocutors sound when their mouths are closed.

The authors of the program Vesti nedeli (News of the Week) on channel Rossia 1 chose the same path of counterfeit, although no “unidentified Georgian man” had provided them with recordings. Nevertheless, they allegedly came into possession of archive footage, showing Targamadze who allegedly offered financial aid to oppositionists, this time in Belarus.

The archive tape can only be called such if you stretch a point there: actually, it is a fragment of a French film made in 2005. Its authors indeed were present at the meeting of the Belarusian oppositionist Anatolii Lebedko with Targamadze and Giga Bokeria, secretary of Georgia’s National Security Council. The actual conversation was in Russian. But in the film it is shown in English translation, again superimposed with a very free rendering into Russian. As a result, Targamadze’s phrase “we are going to advise you how to seize power,” which can easily be heard in the French version of the film shown in Vesti’s story, is changed into “we are going to give you four million to seize power.” Moreover, Bokeria’s suggestion to stop filming was altered into a question “Do you think it will be enough?”

And then the whole thing snowballed. If this information is confirmed, the investigation is going to institute criminal proceedings against all participants of the terrorist conspiracy, in particular, the involved Georgian citizens, says the SKR spokesman Vladimir Markin.

So far, on October 18 the Basmanny Court judge Irina Skuridina detained the activist of the Russian Socialist Movement Konstantin Lebedev, who is to remain in custody till December 16. He is indicted for a crime stipulated in Article 30, Part 1, and Article 212, Part 1, of the Criminal Code, in the framework of the criminal case of plotting mass riots.

And this is where the so-called “Ukrainian trace” comes in handy. It is absolutely indispensable. Leonid Razvozzhaev, an aide of State Duma Deputy Ilya Ponomarev, was wanted by the federal police.

According to the information, announced at the Trubnaya Square rally in Moscow, Razvozzhaev was seized in Kyiv, put into a car and carried away in an unknown direction in the evening of October 19, outside the Ukrainian office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, where he had applied for possible political asylum. Meanwhile, the Chief Administration of Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs told Interfax that they had no information at their disposal concerning a detention of a Russian national. Udaltsov declared that Razvozzhaev had been kidnapped in Kyiv, and secretly transported to Moscow.

If Razvozzhayev was indeed kidnapped in Kyiv by Russian secret service officers, it is an outrage and a painful, humiliating fillip on the nose not only to our police, but also to the entire government. However, there are reasons to suspect that it happened with tacit consent or inactivity of the bosses in Kyiv. The latter is even more deplorable, if Russian secret agents can feel free in a foreign country.

Now, some speculations on the goals of all this television series. Its propagandist component is meant for extremely ignorant, marginal elements – just like the Black Hundred movement was at a certain point in time: the population was thoroughly brainwashed about alien nationals being the exclusive arch-enemy of the God-bearing tsar and Mother Russia. The candy in this sort of wrapping will not be bought today, but it is easy to find enemies abroad. The Russian regime will not get involved in a tug-of-war with great nations, confining it to petty attacks like closing down the offices of various American organizations. On the other hand, Western enemies are an old chestnut. There is no zest in them. That is why Russia decided to find someone smaller and safer. Saakashvili’s Georgia was the most convenient target imaginable, providing a relatively new bugaboo: color revolutions.

No one seems inconvenienced by the fact that the footage was made in Minsk. If the KGB of Belarus helped (which they deny and even promise to find out the truth), a question suggests itself: how it fell in journalists’ hands.

And here is the moment of truth. TV films are used for snitching. The regime does not want to arrest Udaltsov and his companions without a reason. A video recording like the one described above, leaking investigation information, will serve as a pretext to start an inquest. Then Basmanny-style justice will follow promptly, and everything will work like a charm – which we actually witness now.

If a neighbor’s sovereignty has to be violated for the good cause, the way it is perceived by the Kremlin, the latter has no scruples about it. The neighbors will eat humble pie without a murmur. At best, they could pretend to have noticed nothing. Besides, ideologically the incumbent regime in Kyiv is close to that in the Kremlin. They have enough trouble with their own, domestic oppositionists to care for someone else’s. Sadly, the dignitaries in Kyiv will hardly give any thought to the nation’s image and prestige.