Crush your own to scare the rest: Why was propagandist Markov punished?

Source: Author’s Facebook page

The surprising news that Sergei Markov, a Russian politician and political scientist, has been declared a foreign agent in Russia, went largely unnoticed — many readers dismissed it, thinking it didn’t matter what happens in their swamps.

Let me provide a little explanation. Fortunately, the story is unfolding with new details. So, here’s the background.

Sergei Markov is an odious character. He became prominent in Ukraine during the Orange Revolution. On the eve of the 2004 elections, Markov traveled to Kyiv, ostensibly for work, and constantly spoke at the so-called “Russian House in Kyiv.” He repeated the same message — about the brotherhood of peoples and Yanukovych, his prophet.

Markov has always been one of the Kremlin’s most ardent imperialists and a staunch supporter of Putin. He has been declared persona non grata in Ukraine and Estonia. Markov is also under sanctions by Canada.

And — like this: Markov is now officially a foreign agent in…

Russia. That is, in fact, he has been declared an enemy of Russia with the right to be doused with shit by the first gang of Russian Hongweibing, like “Ours” (or whatever they are called now?)

When this news appeared on the air, I wrote that most likely they would soon report a “monstrous mistake” and play it back — the announcement of Markov as a foreign agent looked so incredible. I don’t even know what could have shocked me more — unless it was Oleshko appearing at the CCC and demanding to fight in the DShV or the Marine Corps.

However, no one replied it. Moreover, Markov’s profiles disappeared from the Kremlin website and other state institutions. He was attacked by other regular Kremlin propagandists. As is customary in the swamps, Markov was reminded of everything — from admitting that it was Russia that shot down the Azerbaijani plane, to the briefcase in which he carried dirty socks.

Why is he being treated this way? Officially, it’s for supporting Aliyev at a time when Azerbaijan is currently viewed by Moscow as a “new target for the SVO.” It seems that Markov, while refraining from slandering Ukraine, worked as a lobbyist for Azerbaijani interests on Russian TV and in the Moscow corridors of power. That is what he is now being accused of.

Markov himself, by the way, insists that it’s not about Azerbaijan — he claims that declaring him a foreign agent is revenge by Vladimir Solovyov, another Moscow propagandist.

I see that there are many more reasons for this. The main one is that the Kremlin has started tightening the screws in the information sphere again. At first glance, there seems to be no one left to punish. After the murder of Navalny, the opposition in Russia has been destroyed as a phenomenon; pseudo-liberals like Venediktov and Latynina have long been licking the Kremlin’s boots. Those who systematically and harshly criticize the Putinists (Kasparov, Milov) are abroad and out of reach for the Kremlin. However…

As the experience of the “father of all nations,” Stalin — who is much admired in today’s Moscow — shows, if there are no opponents left, it’s time to punish the “deviators.” That is, to start selectively punishing your own people according to the principle: “beat your own so that outsiders are afraid.” They likely decided to make a show victim out of Markov. They said: Look — the guy dared to claim that Russia shot down an Azerbaijani plane while official Moscow denies it, and now he has been thrown out of politics altogether. Into retirement. No previous merits helped him.

Fortunately, Markov himself spoke out. It seems he really had long-standing ties with Azerbaijan and even dared to appear in Baku for an event with Aliyev’s participation, praising the Azerbaijani president in their media.

What does this tell us? Once again, we see that the Moscow system is enthusiastically devouring itself. They are now declaring “their own” as enemies, with the obvious aim of eradicating not only dissent but even the slightest doubts about the correctness of Putin’s decisions.

And this means that things in Russia are far worse than their propaganda makes people believe. Moscow really wants everyone to keep quiet. And then, when Russia heads into the abyss, no one in Moscow will dare to speak. By the way, the abyss is near.

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