Putin’s opponents flee Russia

Back In 2009, Vladimir Putin agreed to acquire US assistance to launch the national sports channel Match TV. The goal was to blend live and popular TV sports with sports-related lifestyle material, and the new channel eventually turned out to be a huge success:

– Health and good health has become a trend in RussiaAnd the explained One of the sponsors of the Match-TV initiative at the time, respectfully added:

– This trend comes from Head of State Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin.

Now it’s Putin new trend To demand the complete dedication of athletes and sports journalists in the Great Russian National War, he calls it absurd «de-Nazification»Ukraine.

Next door, it means daily newspaper mass slaughter of people. from the public. At home in Russia, Putin’s war follows a unification of the media covering all core areas.

Here, Russian sport has become one of the most important players of the order. Like Putin long before the invasion, he based his nationalism on the most important sports, demanding complete patriotic obedience during wartime.

I pressured young Russian sports stars to stay preachers for the system.

Two of the biggest heroes of sports TV shows in Russia were sent on the run.

He. She famous tv commentator Alexander Shmornov He escaped to South America where he now travels and collects material for a new book on this magical football continent. He’s been on Match TV since the beginning and he’s kind of Russian Björg Lillilin:

– I should have quit a lot sooner. It was like selling a soul to the devilShmurnov tweeted about Match-TV’s success.

On the day of the invasion on February 24, he sat and commented on the Champions League match between Napoli and Barcelona, ​​knowing he just had to escape:

– How did you feel after that?asks the blogger at sports.ru who posted the story On Shmernov’s harsh confrontation with nationalism in the Russian sports press:

– Nothing but anger and hatred against the country’s leadership. But these feelings have been around for more than ten years. Since 2011, I have not accepted what our authorities have doneAlexander Shmornov who was also the mentor at Match TV tells sports journalism:

– For a long time I try to fight in an educated way by talking to people and doing the job honestlyHe says:

– The whole time, I tried to use the mechanism to convey instances of injustice. But then it is no longer possible. after killing Boris Nemtsov What happened Alexei NavalnyThe situation became stifling. The only chance left for me was to make people look at the world with their own eyes.

the invasion In Ukraine it became decisive for Shmurnov:

– I hate war. between countries and peoples. Then my concessions should have endedHe tells of the day he fled Russia with his eldest son who was old enough to be drafted into the army:

– It’s just recognition. I was afraid of being trapped in Russia and of losing being a part of the world. I do not want. Then I’d rather lose being a part of RussiaAnd the sire Shmurnov who hopes the rest of the family can get out.

– Why does injustice triumph?asks the brave blogger on the site sports.ru.

– the win? Injustice has progressed in the past eleven years, but that will change. This does not hold up. Evil cannot last foreverAlexander Shmornov answers.

Self Shame Interested in:

– Our generation may have lost. We have done so little for the world. I’ve done little. In 1992, I was 25 and realized that life in the Soviet Union was like a bag of stones and snakes where they sometimes put ice cream. I will not return to it.

Such as Definitely is the idol of TV Rovshan Askerovthe knowledgeable sports historian and commentator who has marked Russian television entertainment after a stint in Sport-Express for decades.

Askerov was the star in various versions of «Do you want to become a millionaire? He has a memory and mind that has impressed TV viewers show after show.

But then he came out against Putin’s war.

– can kill

night Until April 6 Wrote Askerov follows on his Facebook page the Stalinist national hero of the Second World War Georgy Zhukov:

«In Russia, right in the center of Moscow, in front of the semi-historical museum, there is a statue of an experienced thug. Zhukov was also a murderer in uniform Thief. Home from Germany, he brought with him a large selection of furniture, art, and other goods for private use. Everything in the article is investigated. He was named a hero of the Soviet Union five times.

Just two weeks later, TV star Askerov was accused of spreading Nazism Five years imprisonment.

Russian lies

for Rovshan Askerov was already a well-known critic of Putin’s aggressive nationalism. In 2020, he walked out towards a statue Mikhail Kalashnikov; The designer of the famous Kalashnikov assault rifle:

– In the center of Moscow stands a grotesque, ugly, vulgar, tasteless and immortal statue of the killer Kalashnikov with a murder weaponHe wrote at that time, calling for statues of famous Russian scientists who had developed biomedicine:

– It’s hard to love a society that makes statues of killers and doesn’t recognize who saves usRovshan Askerov thinks.

He fled to Azerbaijan before he arrived now wanted from the Russian police.

Dangerous victory for Putin

number From the two they will return. From exile, Alexander Shmornov communicates with colleagues on Match TV. He regrets what he was exposed to on Putin’s sports channel:

– I think something went wrong from the start. Just the fact that Match was created was part of our community shutdownT, Shimornov tells Sports.ru.

– Sport is a good tool for creating the mood of imperialist politicsAnd the sire he is:

– For a long time we did not understand what was happening. Then politics changed so much that Match was dragged, and the sport became propaganda. It was just “we”, “us”, “our” and “our best”bar admit he is:

– Perhaps it was really the beginning when Russia was awarded the Sochi Olympics. Then came the idea that it was necessary to return to the Soviet era when sport was a political tool. yes; The sport is not done independently of politics, but it probably applies to ten or twenty percent. Not 90 percent.

Putin’s men are running away

Currently Smurnov hopes for better times. last weekend updated Facebook page with this:

– This morning it came to mind about the future of Russian sports television. About how to solve it when the fog clearshe wrote:

Government employees will, of course, receive a white ticket. What about the creators? Everyone who loves sports, its true feelings, nerves and excitement and its ability to attract millions, everyone should work. without exception. Without pulling skeletonsAnd the dreams Shmurnov on the confrontation with aggressive Russian nationalism that might come if power slips to Putin:

–So, colleagues, do not be afraid. Be patient with this “Chinese nonsense”. Everything will be fine in the end!

disappeared from Russia

at the same time escape from Many of Russia’s most creative minds have landed. The problem was discussed in the State Duma in the wake of alarming reports from various trade unions. The volunteer organization OK Russians, which helps immigrants, has calculated that, for example, a relative ten percent A very important IT worker has disappeared since the war began. The Russian authorities have estimated that 600,000 jobs Disappear after the withdrawal of Western companies from the country.

In that photo, two TV stars on the run from Putin’s criticism are not much of a problem. But government-controlled television channels are a crucial domestic weapon for maintaining the Russian lie about what happened when Ukraine was attacked.

Two familiar faces and voices are gone.

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