Political information at the highest level – Kommersant

On Monday, the Knowledge Society opened its fifth educational marathon, Time for Action. The event is aimed primarily at young people, and in the offline mode it is attended mainly by schoolchildren. The first day of the marathon was largely devoted to political education. The first deputy head of the presidential administration, Sergei Kiriyenko, instructed the youth that everyone should make “his contribution to the victory.” Rosatom CEO Alexei Likhachev recalled how the United States benefited from all world wars, and the USSR created its nuclear weapons only in response to their actions. Acting head of the DPR Denis Pushilin explained that the current situation has its roots in the “coup d’état” that grew out of the Euromaidan. Well, the presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told in detail what the West’s lie is and how to deal with it.

For its fifth marathon, Knowledge has chosen a trendy cyberpunk style that is often used in films and video games in the utopian and dystopian genre. The speeches of the speakers were preceded by a video in lilac-blue tones, on the frames of which one could distinguish the Kremlin towers, the metal figure of a ballerina, bridges, skyscrapers, etc. The video ended with an image of a tree, also in bright colors and cubic shapes, which suggested its technological rather than natural origin. In general, the first day of the marathon was mainly devoted to political education.

The welcome speech to the participants of the marathon was traditionally delivered by the First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration (AP) Sergei Kiriyenko, who oversees this site, which has become, in fact, the reincarnation of the Soviet-era Knowledge society. He began with the usual enumeration of “wars” (the first deputy head of the Presidential Administration regularly uses this word in public), which, in his assessment, are now being waged against Russia. This is both a “hot war in the zone of a special military operation”, and an economic one – in connection with sanctions, and an information-psychological one, the Kremlin representative listed. The marathon is called “Action Time” because Russia is facing a “civilizational challenge,” he explained: “The goal of those who are trying to fight Russia today is very clear. They stopped hiding it: they want Russia to cease to exist.”

The main idea that Mr. Kiriyenko conveyed to the participants of the marathon was that the current situation is a “challenge for each of us” and everyone should find their own way to make “his contribution to victory”. At the same time, he urged young people not only to follow the path of import substitution, but also to create fundamentally new technologies. “Today the first speaker is Aleksey Evgenyevich Likhachev, the head of Rosatom, who will talk about how once, not so long ago, knowledge turned into the creation of the most powerful nuclear shield of our country, which to this day is guaranteed to protect the sovereignty of our country”, Sergey Kiriyenko announced the next speaker on the stage.

Mr. Likhachev did not let Mr. Kiriyenko down. His speech began as a digression into the history of radiation research: both Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Ernest Rutherford were found in his story. Having reached the Manhattan Project (the US program for the development of nuclear weapons), the head of Rosatom added a geopolitical aspect to his speech. “In general, here you can stop a little and look at the history of today. The paradox and at the same time the pattern is that any world war leads to a multiple increase in the strength of America. So it was during the First World War, when huge debts of European countries to US banks were formed and the United States actually began to moderate the global financial market. This happened during World War II: a large number of military orders, and financial loans, but also an influx of a large number of scientists,” Alexei Likhachev explained, urging in connection with this, when analyzing the current situation, not to forget that the problems of Europe and Russia lead to the growth of US economic and political power.

The nuclear attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, according to the head of Rosatom, had no military meaning, but was a demonstration of new weapons to the Soviet Union. The Soviet leadership took up the development of the atomic bomb only in response to the actions of the United States, and before that it was mainly engaged in nuclear energy technologies. But this did not prevent the USSR from achieving nuclear parity in record time, the speaker recalled. “And when I look at these documents, I think all the time: this is what would happen if the atomic bomb was made according to the 44th law (law on public procurement.— “b”)? Officials know what I’m talking about. We would probably still be creating it, ”- either sincerely thought, or called for some state decisions, Alexei Likhachev.

Another speaker on the first day of the marathon was Denis Pushilin, Acting Head of the Donetsk People’s Republic. He immediately explained that “it all started” not with a special military operation, but back in 2014. “Why was the Donetsk People’s Republic created? Why was it created? he turned to the hall. “I believe that there was an armed uprising for defending their interests in the east of Ukraine, and it all started with this,” the young man in glasses readily answered him. “In 2014, the Euromaidan initially took place, which grew into a full-fledged full-scale state armed coup across the country. This made us react,” Mr. Pushilin corrected his version. And then he began a long story about why the DPR was proclaimed and why it joined Russia. The main reason for these events, according to him, was that the Ukrainian authorities did not meet the needs of the residents of Donbass when they tried to achieve their rights through peaceful demonstrations. Denis Pushilin recounted the whole story without behind-the-scenes details, but promised someday to write more detailed memoirs.

Dmitry Peskov, like Sergei Kiriyenko, was also not afraid to utter the word “war”, declaring that a hybrid version of it is being waged against Russia. Confronting these attacks requires “creativity” and faith in one’s rightness, the presidential press secretary emphasized. After that, he moved on to expose the “lies” that, according to him, Russia’s opponents are spreading. “First, Russia is to blame for everything that is happening. Aggressive Russia, which launched a special military operation, provoked by nothing and without any reason for it. This is a monstrous lie. Those who talk about it, they never tell the whole backstory. And they never show our President Vladimir Putin when he talks about it,” Mr. Peskov enlightened the youth. Thus, the West, according to the official, hushed up how civilians, including old people and children, were dying in Donbass for eight years. Among other examples of such “lies”, Dmitry Peskov named, in particular, Western media reports and statements by Western politicians about the destruction of the Russian economy by sanctions, about Vladimir Putin’s doubles and his health problems. “Consuming all this information, one should never be so gullible. You always need to question any information and try to double-check it in various sources, ”summed up Mr. Peskov.

Andrey Vinokurov