Kremlin did not send propagandists "instructions" on Kakhovka HPP
Russian state-owned and Kremlin-aligned media outlets did not receive any clear recommendations from the Russian presidential administration on how to cover the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant disaster and the situation in Kherson Oblast, calling the hydroelectric power plant explosion a "flood".
Source: Meduza, a Latvia-based Russian independent news outlet, referring to two sources in large pro-Kremlin outlets
Details: As Meduza notes, such "instructions" usually appear almost immediately after any large-scale events. This time, according to the sources, the propagandists were not even told what exactly should be mentioned as the cause of the dam's destruction.
"There is no need to push it, but there is no need to keep silent," is how one of Meduza's sources describes the general approach of the pro-government media.
Russian state-owned TV channels and propaganda online media differed in their assessments of what happened. Moreover, most often, the main Russian channels did not even make the Kakhovka HPP a topic for the opening of their newscasts.
For example, in the daytime edition of Vesti (Russia 1) on 8 June, the first story was about how Russian troops were allegedly "successfully repelling" the attacks of the Ukrainian army. The programme described the flooding of Kherson Oblast as "a flood that followed the Ukrainian shelling of the Kakhovka dam". In the evening edition of Vesti, the story repeated itself: first, the disaster at the hydroelectric power station was described as a "barbaric action" by Ukraine, after which the programme's correspondents announced that there was a "flood" in Kherson Oblast (NTV channel uses the same word).
In one of the newscasts on Pervy Kanal (Channel 1), the story about the disaster came fourth. It was preceded by a story about an "international forum of education ministers"; news about Western weapons allegedly destroyed at the frontline; and a story about the detention of a "Kyiv agent" in Donetsk.
Pervy Kanal did not focus much attention on the causes of the disaster. They call the hydroelectric power station "attacked", but do not say how exactly and who attacked it.
All state-owned channels (as well as propaganda online media) pay most attention to how the occupation authorities have allegedly successfully organised the evacuation of residents of flooded towns and villages.
This is completely untrue, as the occupation officials completely failed to evacuate the area and got in the way of those who tried to escape on their own.
According to an employee of a state-owned media outlet who spoke to Meduza, viewers and readers of pro-government media were simultaneously told how "Russia is saving and helping people" and "Ukraine is shelling those whom Russia is helping".
A Meduza source close to the presidential administration (where the so-called guidelines for pro-government media are drawn up) explains that it is not yet "relevant to insist on the causes (of the disaster)".
"Officially, the president points to Ukraine, [Russian Defence Minister Sergey] Shoigu says it was Ukraine, Dmitry Peskov (Russian presidential press secretary – ed.) also makes such statements. This is enough. But it is better to focus on the positive side, in particular, so as not to frighten people too much. It's a standard mechanism for working things out," he says, calling the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station "essentially a natural disaster".
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