Television is the dominant news source for the majority of Russians, and its reporting led by Mr Putin’s media ally Dimitry Kiselev paints a very different image of the UK to that portrayed by the press on British soil. In Channel 4’s 2019 documentary ‘The World According to Vladimir Putin’, it is revealed how Mr Kiselev launches tirades on British political figures while denouncing the UK’s coverage of the Salisbury Novichok poisoning, which led to the death of one person.
The documentary starts with the Russian media’s coverage of Theresa May, in which Mr Kiselev says during his ‘News of the Week’ show that Mrs May has “tired white flesh.”
Referring to then Prime Minister May’s speech condemning Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Mr Kiselev says: “And here is the head of the British Government, Theresa May.
“She chose to deliver her most aggressive speech on Russia whilst generously displaying her tired white flesh.”
The host then talks over images of Mrs May drinking wine at the event, and accuses the former British Prime Minister of holding her glass incorrectly.
Mr Kiselev continues: “Then Madam Prime Minister urgently needed a drink. Red [wine] would do.
“She gulped it down not caring about how she held the glass.
“The glass is held not by the stem, as in polite society, but like a regular glass.”
Having issued a damning assessment of Mrs May, the host then directs his attack to Boris Johnson.
He says: “And here is another one who likes to wave his light sabre-Boris Johnson.
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He says: ”The British quickly decided who was behind the alleged attempted murder and with no evidence blamed Russia.”
His co-host reiterates this, stating: “The British Government didn’t really bother with evidence, applying the principle of ‘highly likely’.
Ther documentary then shows how the Russian media used an article written by Mr Johnson in 2013 to claim that Britain were accusing Russia of orchestrating the Salisbury attack to distract from Brexit chaos.
In the 2013 article, Mr Johnson writes in the Telegraph about the ‘dead-cat method’, a way of distracting political opponents when losing a debate.
The news anchor reads excerpts from the article, and claims that Britain is trying to distract its citizens with the “scary Russian threat.”