Anadolu Agency via Getty
Russia experienced a number of embarrassing setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine, but none of them were as humiliating as an explosion that rocked the Crimean Bridge, also known as Kerch Strait Bridge or Kerch Bridge, early Saturday morning.
During his Saturday broadcast on Solovyov Live, Russian state TV host Sergey Mardan opened his show with heavy sighs. He noted, “All day long we’ll be talking about how this happened and what will come of it. I can tell you right now that nothing good will come of it, that’s for sure.” Mardan grimly concluded: “They’ve achieved an enormous propagandistic effect.”
Repeatedly referring to Ukrainians with an often-used slur, Mardan complained that Russia apparently underestimated not only them, but also the Americans. Chauvinistic disregard for the Ukrainians as Russia’s “lesser” opponents manifests in the way Russian propagandists tend to blame the West for any painful blows inflicted in the course of Russia’s ill-fated invasion.