Putin tones down anti-Ukrainian propaganda, Nemtsov says

Public opinion in Russia is formed by Putin-controlled TV channels. When Yushchenko was president, anti-Ukrainian brainwashing was done on a daily basis, Nemtsov says.

“Russian spin doctors would say that all in Ukraine were Banderites, SS-men, riff-raffs, CIA and Mossad agents, you name what. Russians were subjected to this kind of brainwashing for the past 5 years. Of course, it left the mark.

You know what stunned me most? According to a public opinion survey, Russians rooted for Saudi Arabia who played Ukraine during the 2006 world soccer championship.  Not for a brotherly Slavonic nation but for Russia’s main rival on oil markets! All thanks to that moronic brainwashing.”  

The anti-Ukrainian propaganda has now stopped. Now Moscow’s foremost bad guy is Belarus Pres Lukashenka, not the Ukrainian president. So Putin’s TV channels are busy lambasting him now.

“Films, resembling those about Yuschenko, are shown, claiming in addition that Lukashenko is a murderer. Yushchenko was accused only of being a Banderite nationalist, not a murderer. Putin’s propaganda is now off Ukraine's back. This indicates a thaw with regard to Ukraine,” Nemtsov continues.

“As to the allegations that Russians are considering Ukrainians as their junior brothers, only idiots are holding this view. Normal people think that you are an independent country,” Nemtsov says.