Less than three years ago, on November 29, 2013, the principled and consistent “journalist” Vladimir Solovyov, speaking from the stage of the Moscow Art Theatre (MXAT), explained to the audience in very plain terms that Crimea should under no circumstances be returned.
Just four months later, the “journalist” would be screeching about Holy Korsun and claiming that a beach in Yalta is like the Holy Sepulchre for the average resident of Cheboksary.
What is interesting, though, is not even how this crook changes his tune in midair—lying is his profession, and he goes to work in order to lie. And Solovyov is hardly the only one: even the current governor and great “liberator” of Crimea, Aksyonov, said in an interview that the peninsula should remain with Ukraine.
What is interesting is something else: people are now being jailed for exactly the kind of words Solovyov said at the Moscow Art Theatre. They even added a special article to the Criminal Code. People get jailed for less than that—we all recently saw how an FSB special forces unit detained a guy over a separatist comment in a VKontakte public group about St. Petersburg.
So now, anyone who repeats Solovyov’s words will be jailed, and when the trial comes, Solovyov will do a show saying they were right to lock the person up—various people keep talking, weakening the country, and are obviously working for the United States. And while taking viewers’ calls, he will surely say: if protecting sovereignty requires jailing people, then the authorities must show toughness and jail them. There is no other way.