Russia | Live scandal on state television: "The North Koreans are all of them"

t-online Russia | Live scandal on state television: "The North Koreans are all of them" Ellen Ivits • 6 hours • 4 minutes reading time Exchange of blows in the studio Scandal on Russian TV: "The North Koreans are all of them" Olga Skabjewa, the presenter of the propaganda program "60 Minutes", is notorious for her aggressive manner. A talk show guest loyal to Putin reveals uncomfortable details about the war in Ukraine live on TV. The presenter tries to silence him. But he talks himself into trouble. The propaganda program "60 Minutes" on the Russian state broadcaster Rossija 1 (Russia 1) is notorious for the outbursts of its presenter Olga Skabejewa. The talk show host is known for the metallic sound of her voice and her presentation style à la KGB interrogation specialist. Her manner has earned her the nickname "the iron doll", coined by the Russian Foreign Ministry's press secretary, Maria Zakharova. But her aggressive outbursts are mostly directed at the "collective West", the "senile" Joe Biden or the alleged Ukrainian Nazis. Last week, however, her verbal power was met with the attention of an in-house expert. Dmitry Absalov is a regular guest on her show, which is broadcast at least five hours a day. The president of the Center for Strategic Communications faithfully adheres to the Kremlin's guidelines and narratives. But now he made a slip-up. During a discussion about the war in Ukraine, the invited guest suddenly began to mention facts that the Kremlin does not want to be made public. First, he spoke of intensifying negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, especially between the USA and Russia. These would "most likely take place in Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates", he explained. But Skabeeva did not want to hear that on her show. "Are we believing Reuters?" she interrupted. But Absalov reacted with unusual rebelliousness: "After all, we also believed Reuters' reports about the deployment of North Korean soldiers. They are all here now, and the next batch is coming next month." "Why are they all here? What happened?" "Is that some insight from the Russian Ministry of Defense?" Skabejewa tried to put her guest in an uncomfortable position to explain where he got the information from. "Don't you want to say anything more about it?" she asked smugly. "The North Korean soldiers are all here," Absalov repeated. "Why are they all here? What happened?" Skabejewa taunted in response. At this point, the political scientist probably realized that he was in danger of talking himself into trouble. "Because it is difficult for them to fight against drones," he added. "How many were there? Nobody has officially given any information about it. You are the first. Except the Americans," the moderator countered. But Absalov did not give in and compared the situation with the sale of Iranian drones to Russia. The Kremlin did not want to admit this for a long time, but now their use in Ukraine is a known fact. "North Korean military forces were deployed there. Now they all obviously left in January," he repeated his choice of words - obviously trying to avoid talking about casualties. Talk show guest gets angry "But we are not spreading American narratives," Skabeeva interrupted. "It is the Americans who are discussing that 15,000 North Koreans were killed - they did not know how to fight and that is why they were recalled. Neither the Ministry of Defense nor Peskov nor any official in our country have spoken about it," she made the official line clear. The same applies to possible negotiations. Peskov denied the reports. "We believe Peskov and not Trump," said Skabeeva. Dmitri Absalov is a regular guest on the propaganda show "60 Minutes". But now he has let slip and even contradicted Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov. ( At this point, her talk show guest became furious. "At first they said we weren't negotiating at all. Then they said we weren't negotiating officially. So we're negotiating unofficially, right? Then they announced that we weren't negotiating, of course, but we had worked out a common position with the US. How can you work out a position if you're not negotiating? That's the question," said Absalov, summing up the absurdity of Kremlin propaganda in recent weeks. After this scandal in the studio, Russian viewers are now watching what happens to the expert. The corresponding video segment immediately spread on social networks and triggered a wave of ridicule. Many see this incident as censorship within the propaganda machine itself, which has already been in place for a long time.