Russia Decoded
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August 10, 2026: Blame Russia for Everything
Russia Decoded This week, Vesti devoted its Europe report to a single accusation: that a failing European political class blames Moscow for every crisis that it has created itself, from migrants surging into Ceuta to vineyards burning in France and Germany’s self-imposed energy shock. All of it, the program insists, is unfairly laid at Russia’s
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August 3, 2026: So Many Ways to Go Wrong
Russia Decoded The Russia-Ukraine war is no longer contained to Ukraine, and the number of theaters now capable of pulling in one another, from Kyiv to Tehran, is growing faster than anyone’s ability to manage them. Was Ukraine’s recent strike on an Iranian vessel intended as a message for Donald Trump, and why did it
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July 27, 2026: Rallying Around the Flag
Russia Decoded This week’s Vesti Nedeli broadcast focused not on victory but on hardship. Russian correspondents fanned out from Volgograd to Vladivostok to report on fuel shortages, ten-day blackouts in Crimea, and the sixth successful Ukrainian strike on the warehouses of Russia’s largest online retailer. After four years in which most Russians have experienced the
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July 20, 2026: Getting Down to Business
Russia Decoded With Dmitry Kiselyov away on vacation, the latest Vesti Nedeli fell to a substitute host, Yevgeny Popov, and the resulting broadcast felt like a different show entirely. Gone were the familiar tropes, the bandits and fascists and postmodern flourishes, replaced by a stripped-down, fact-heavy recitation of the news. As Kiselyov’s propaganda machine idles
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July 13, 2026: “Time Is on Our Side”
Russia Decoded This week, Vesti Nedeli contrasted the two warring nations: Russia endures mere discomfort, from gas lines to rationing to rising prices, while life in Ukraine becomes unsustainable, with empty Patriot batteries, draft riots in Lviv, and Russian missiles landing at will. The message to Russian viewers is unmistakable: “we are taking some blows
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