You probably know that the word Pravda (Правда) means “truth” in Russian. That’s pretty hilarious when you look at the fact that Pravda is the official Russian government news outlet. In fact, it used to be the newspaper of the old Soviet government. It was the main propaganda outlet for the government. It still is.
But truth? Not so much.
Now that it is controlled by Vladimir Putin and his pals, it’s fascinating to read the online version of Pravda and see how the Kremlin spins the news of the world.
Today’s front page of the Russian language version of Pravda included this headline:
“Трамп нашел источник “слива” секретной информации в СМИ.”
Which means: “Trump has found the source of the “plum” information leaked to the media.”
The article went on to say that Trump had named Sally Yates, the former acting Attorney General, as the one to leak the information. It said that the leaks could be relevant in the testimony that Yates was scheduled to give today in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee. The whole focus of the article was on Yates as the leaker of classified information.
What’s most interesting is that the headline, and the implication in the article, is a Russian spin on what Trump actually tweeted. The President certainly hinted at his suspicions that Ms. Yates was the leaker, but he definitely did not identify her as the “source” of those big leaks.
Ask Sally Yates, under oath, if she knows how classified information got into the newspapers soon after she explained it to W.H. Counsel.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 8, 2017
See? Sneaky, but not blatant. Pravda made the accusation the heart of its story.
The Pravda article also mentioned, almost as an aside, that Trump and his administration tried to prevent Yates from testifying, although it didn’t say why. It also said that “most likely” Yates would testify that she had warned the Trump administration about Michael Flynn and his interactions with Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak.
Interestingly, the Pravda report goes on to say that Yates warned the administration that Flynn might be at risk of being compromised, but said that Trump didn’t find the interactions between the two men to be “objectionable.”
Then it reminded readers that Sally Yates was fired after ordering members of her agency not to carry out Trump’s travel ban.
What is striking is that the headline and the opening paragraphs of the article claim that Sally Yates was the person who leaked information about Mike Flynn’s Russian contacts to the press. It isn’t suggested; there is no maybe in the headline. It is a definitive statement that Trump has found the leaker, and that her name is Sally Yates.
The Russian press, it seems, is as eager as Trump to make this story all about outing the person who leaked classified information. Just like Trump, they want to pretend that the contacts between the administration and the Putin regime aren’t the real issue.
It’s also fascinating to see that the English version of Pravda had no mention of Sally Yates, of her testimony or of her warnings about Flynn.
Think about that for a minute.
Pretty interesting how Putin shapes what people read and what they think, isn’t it?
Featured image via Pixabay
