MOSCOW (AP) – Even while Vladimir Putin was still mysteriously absent, Russian TV delivered a clear message for Russians and foreigners alike: Putin is firmly in charge, and ready to use his country’s military power to safeguard the interests of Russia and Russians.
A lavish 2 ½-hour documentary on Russia’s annexation of Crimea aired late Sunday, and the United States was designated as the villain in what has mushroomed into the gravest crisis in East-West relations since the Cold War.
In an on-camera interview, the Russian president, who reappeared in public Monday following a still unexplained 10-day disappearance, accused the Americans of being the “real puppet masters” behind nationalist forces that overthrew Ukraine’s former president and ushered in that country’s current pro-Western government.
For an outside observer who was in Crimea at the height of the annexation crisis one year ago, the state-owned TV production was blatantly, sometimes surreally one-sided. The tone was set with its title: “Crimea: The Road Home,” with “home” in this case being the word Russians affectionately use for their country: Rodina, or Motherland.
It made some startling if unsubstantiated claims, like an alleged plot by Ukrainian nationalists to poison a reservoir where many Crimeans get their drinking water.