How two Russian state-run broadcasters report on their own impending demise in Europe.

Even as they faced a broadcasting blackout imposed by the European Union, both of Russia’s state-run English-language broadcasters continued to report or invent fanciful and distorted stories about the war their masters had launched inside Ukraine.

RT, an acronym for Russian Television, seemed to enjoy mocking the mayor of Ukraine’s embattled capital city Kyiv, former world boxing champion.. “Kiev’s mayor says city ‘encircled’, then backtracks.’ Its sub-headline read: ‘Vitali Klitschko said Ukraine’s capital city has been encircled, dismissing his own words as “Russian lies” shortly after.’

That was a relatively truthful story, but the reals of fantasy were not far away. Here’s its description of how it says the Russian attack on ukraine came about:

“The years-long Ukrainian crisis got even more turbulent this week, when Russia launched a large-scale offensive against the country’s military, citing the need to protect the breakaway republics in the east of the country from an allegedly imminent attack by Kiev, a charge the Ukrainian side has denied, branding the attack “unprovoked.”

“Days before the military operation kicked off, Moscow formally recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s republics, which broke away from Ukraine back in 2014 after the Maidan coup and endured years of armed conflict with the Kiev forces.”

RT gave prominence to support given to the Russian war effort from Communist North Korea. “Pyongyang accused Washington of pursuing “military supremacy” at the expense of Moscow’s “legitimate” security demands,” it reported, adding:

“‘The root cause of the Ukrainian crisis also lies in the high-handedness and arbitrariness of the US,’ a commentary posted to North Korea’s Foreign Ministry website on Saturday reads.”

The other soon-to-be silenced Russian media outlet, Sputnik, also reported its own impending removal. Its website has a somewhat contestable slogan, seen here:

Sputnik revealed that its own website had been the subject of hacker attacks, as had RT, along with various Russian state companies and agencies.

Among its pro-Moscow stories was the claim that phosphorous bomblets have been illegally used by Ukrainian forces. [Even if true, phosphorous is not banned as a weapon if used solely against military not civilian targets]:

Russian MoD: Ukraine’s Forces Use Banned Phosphorus Munitions Outside Kiev

Situation in Ukraine: Russian MoD: Ukraine’s Forces Use Banned Phosphorus Munitions Outside Kiev

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