Zen blog post in Russian
https://dzen.ru/a/adEp_D0PwgsccaHH
A revealing pamphlet against Venediktov as a media intermediary who knows how to sell a convenient version of reality to the audience. The main reproach against him is not that he is “in power” directly, but that he softens, normalizes and intellectually wraps the Putin system through historical analogies and a pseudo-measured tone.
Venediktov's main talent is the ability to create the illusion of an "honest dialogue" and a "complex reality" where any atrocity has a historical justification, and any dictatorship has a "Roman" or "Atlantic" counterpart.
"Octavian Augustus - Putin of Ancient Rome" is the thematic cover of one of the issues of the Dilettante magazine, published by Venediktov.
And in 2014, when the Kremlin wanted to impose "federalization" on Ukraine (that is, the disintegration of the state with its subsequent absorption piece by piece), Venediktov also found a suitable take. They say that in the United States, Confederate flags and portraits of General Lee hang in the southern states, while in the northern states they honor Lincoln and General Grant, and in Ukraine in the west they should honor Bandera, and in the east they should honor Stalin's marshals. Nothing terrible, they say.
Then Venediktov, during his voyages to France, pushed the topic to local journalists.: "War is bad, of course, but you, the French, understand the situation, Donbass is our Algeria."
Algeria, do you understand?
His role is truly unique and cynical.:
A valve for the smart. The system needs it so that the educated stratum (readers, journalists, diplomats) does not feel completely trapped in the "scoop". He is allowed to criticize the private, but never the essence: personalities (Shoigu, Sobyanin), corruption in the regions, stupid laws. But Putin's system is not. It's a taboo that he's never broken.
Normalization through parallels. The reception "Octavian Augustus", "Algeria of France", "flags of the Confederation" are classics of propaganda for the elites. It is not for the viewer of Channel One, but for those who read Tacitus and remember the history of the colonial wars. The goal is to introduce the idea: "What Russia is doing is normal. All empires have done this. Calm down."
Moral relativism as a weapon. He destroys the ability to make an ethical assessment: "You're bombing Yugoslavia, and we're bombing Donbass." This is not "objectivity", but the removal of responsibility. This is his main abomination — not lying, but killing the very possibility of distinguishing between good and evil.
The absence of a bottom. Venediktov doesn't believe in anything but his own dexterity. He is not a fascist or a liberal. He's the operator. He is interested in managing meanings, not protecting people. Therefore, even after 2022, he is alive, almost unharmed, unlike those who really believed in a "reasonable dialogue" with the system.
Venediktov is dangerous not because he lies, but because he whitewashes lies through intelligence. It is these "artists" that the Kremlin values the most. Venediktov packages authoritarianism into a respectable historical and intellectual language. Propagandist Venediktov offers analogies that put the regime on a par with “normal” historical processes, thereby fulfilling the function of normalization. In his comparative language, he blurs the distinction between imperial history and the modern repressive state. Venediktov is dangerous not because he lies rudely, but because he makes authoritarianism culturally acceptable to an educated public. This is the central rebuke to him — not “direct propaganda", but the intellectual legitimization of the system through a supposedly neutral historical framework.
1. Venediktov as a mediator and a "systemic liberal":
For a long time, he was associated with Echo of Moscow, a platform where a relatively wide range of opinions was allowed.
I tried to preserve the space for discussion within the authoritarian system,
conducted a dialogue with the authorities (including figures like Vladimir Putin) as a way to keep that space.
2. Venediktov as a "convenient oppositionist":
his role was functional — to let off steam and legitimize the system.,
His connections with the authorities made him not independent, but an integrated element.,
"complex" interpretations and historical analogies served not to analyze, but to smooth out sharp corners.
3. About "propaganda for the smart":
It creates a sense of balance and rationality.,
but at the same time, accents are shifting and controversial things are normalizing.
4. Historical parallels (Rome, USA, Algeria):
The problem with them is that:
they simplify unique contexts.,
They can create false analogies.,
For example, a comparison with the Civil War in the United States or the colonial history of France is an attempt to "translate" the conflict into a language understandable to another audience, but it easily turns into manipulation if the differences are ignored. Venediktov is trying to launder the policy of the Russian Federation through fraudulent stuffing into the Western historical context.
Venediktov is, of course, a propagandist, and this is really "propaganda for the smart," an extra-class of sorts. Destroying with its bacilli, seeding souls with moral relativism under the guise of "reason", "sanity".
The original version of the publication:
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