Opinion: Pundits who defied Putin on Russian TV could embolden others

Mark Galeotti - After two people spoke out against the war in Ukraine on Russian state TV, Professor Mark Galeotti (UCL School of Slavonic & East European Studies) writes about what that might suggest about public opinion in Russia. During my many visits to Russia I occasionally tune in to a popular prime-time show called An Evening with Vladimir Soloviev. Hosted by one of the country's most toxic state propagandists, it is a useful political weather vane, and it throbs with patriotic, testosterone-fuelled fervour. Less a chat show than a bear-pit, the carefully selected guests jostle for position to see who can spout the most extreme pro-Kremlin sentiments, and many people watch it more for the gladiatorial entertainment it offers than its take on current affairs. A geopolitical Jeremy Kyle, if you will, dedicated to the cult of Putin. It is certainly the very last place I would expect to hear anyone raise criticism of Putin's 'special military operation' in the Ukraine (remember, if you call it a 'war' in Russia you face 15 years behind bars). Yet on Thursday night, not one but two people did just that: one a leading academic, the other a filmmaker.