At the end of October, Russian media and Telegram channels reported that a US politician stated the need to destroy Russia, since it is an Orthodox Christian country with traditional values. We have verified the accuracy of such messages.
On October 31, numerous media publications and posts on social networks appeared regarding a statement allegedly made by Democratic member of the US Congress Jamie Raskin. The politician is alleged to have said: “Russia is an Orthodox country that professes traditional values. That is why it must be destroyed, no matter what price the United States pays for it.” They told their readers about this RT, "Moskovsky Komsomolets", Readovka, Eurasia Daily, Ura.ru, newspaper "Sight" And Pravda.ru. The news was also shared on Telegram by a TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov (1.4 million subscribers at the time of writing this analysis) and a regular guest of his broadcasts Yakov Kedmi (147,000), TV presenter Ruslan Ostashko (340,000), writer Zakhar Prilepin (304,000), head of the faction “A Just Russia - for Truth!” in the State Duma Sergei Mironov (50,000) and deputy from United Russia Oleg Matveychev (46,000), as well as channels "The world today with "Yuri Podolyak"" (2.8 million), "Signal"(741,000), "Older than the Edda" (634,000) and "⚡️?? Reports of the Novorossiya militia Z.O.V. (DPR, LPR, Ukraine, war)"(312,000). Raskin was also quoted by ordinary users and publics in Facebook*, Twitter, "VKontakte" And YouTube.
Media and Telegram channels that cite Raskin’s words in their publications rely on one source - a fragment from a program on the conservative Fox News channel that sympathizes with the Republican Party. On October 27, host Tucker Carlson appeared on his daily program “Tonight with Tucker Carlson.” reasoned about how Biden’s “religious war in Ukraine” is negatively impacting the American economy. This happened less than three weeks before elections to Congress. Starting with statements that play on previously circulated and untrue statements like cutting down ancient forests in Germany for the sake of obtaining firewood or Britons freezing from the cold, Carlson accuses Democratic President Joe Biden of a mistaken decision to announce sanctions against Russian energy resources.
Giving arguments in support of his position, the presenter claims that simultaneously with the introduction of restrictions on the import of oil and gas from the Russian Federation, the White House “suppressed” fuel production in the United States, and asks the question: “All this did not interfere with Putin in any way, all this impoverishes the United States. What could be the justification for this? Carlson goes on to say literally the following: “Anyone who paid [this] attention should have asked this question. This week, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Bethesda, Maryland, responded. Russia is an Orthodox Christian country with traditional social values, and therefore it must be destroyed, no matter what the cost. This is no ordinary war. This is jihad. Jamie Raskin said it out loud, but many in Washington agree with him on both sides. They would like to see World War Trans immediately (Carlson appears to be combining the phrase World War III with the word trans, which is used to mean regularly criticized on Fox News transgender. — Approx. ed.)".
But did Jamie Ruskin really say this? We studied his social networks, publications on the congressman’s official website, mentions in the media and interviews - nowhere, except in retellings of Carlson’s program, is the politician mentioned along with a quote about an Orthodox Christian country with traditional social values.
On October 24 (three days before Carlson's program aired), a group of 30 Democratic congressmen published an open letter to President Biden with a proposal to intensify diplomatic contacts with Russia on the issue of Ukraine. White House from this successive refuses, insisting that the start of negotiations is the exclusive prerogative of Kyiv. This position is shared by most Democrats in Congress. criticized the contents of the letter - its authors even had to explain that their initiative does not cancel their “unconditional commitment to supporting Ukraine.” The next day a letter was withdrawn, because it was published “untimely” and “without final approval” by congressional aides. Among the initiators of this appeal to Biden (and, accordingly, the negotiations, and not the “destruction” of Russia) was Jamie Raskin.
The next day, October 25 (Carlson’s program, a fragment of which went viral, was released on the 27th), Raskin published statement commenting on the decision to withdraw the letter to Biden. The congressman explains that, from his point of view, the Ukrainian military and authorities in Kyiv are defending the “democratic future” of the whole world, recalls the words of TV presenter Anton Krasovsky, on RT calling to burn and drown Ukrainian children, emphasizes the participation of women and representatives of sexual minorities in the defense of the country, as well as the strengthening of horizontal ties in society and the work of volunteers. The statement is almost entirely dedicated to Ukraine.
The closest in meaning to what Carlson voiced is the fragment from this text that sounds like this: “Moscow is now the center of corrupt tyranny, censorship, authoritarian repression, police violence, propaganda, government lies and disinformation, and the planning of war crimes. It is a global center of anti-feminist, anti-gay, anti-trans hatred, and the birthplace of [conspiracy] theory."great replacement"for export (its author is considered to be the French writer Renaud Camus, although Russian officials And quite large media made similar statements. — Approx. ed.). By helping Ukraine, we oppose these fascist views and support the urgent principles of democratic pluralism. Ukraine, of course, is not ideal, but its society is structured on completely different principles of democracy and freedom, which is why Russian oligarchic leaders are striving to destroy it forever.”
Neither in this fragment, nor in his statement at all, does Raskin use the words “Orthodoxy,” “Christianity,” and “religion” (as well as the adjectives derived from them), or the phrase “traditional [social] values.” The congressman uses the verb “to destroy” and its synonyms exclusively when describing Russia’s actions towards Ukraine. Raskin also does not connect in his text the properties of Russian society and the need for the United States to commit any destructive actions against the Russian Federation. There are no statements attributed to the politician in the letter to Biden published on October 24, where the congressman, along with his colleagues, called on the American leader to intensify diplomatic interaction with Moscow.
Thus, presenter Tucker Carlson (and following him the media and social network users) at least very loosely retold, and at most significantly distorted, Jamie Raskin’s statement, which did not contain any wording about an Orthodox Christian country with traditional social values, nor a call for the destruction of Russia, “no matter what the cost.” The representative of the Democratic Party indeed characterizes the Russian authorities extremely negatively and speaks of the need for further support for Ukraine, but does not call for the destruction of Russian society or the state. In contrast, at the end of his statement, Raskin writes: “Diplomatic work by the Biden administration will inevitably follow, since sustained diplomacy always marks the end of war—even with tyrants and despots.”
*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social network Facebook, is an extremist organization; its activities in Russia are prohibited.
Cover photo: Edward Kimmel/Wikimedia Commons
Mostly not true
- Is it true that Bill Clinton planned to dismember Russia into small states with regimes favorable to the United States?
- Did George Soros say that Europe will win even if Ukraine remains in ashes?
- Did Brzezinski say that Ukraine, “where betrayal is the norm of public morality,” will help the West with the collapse of Russia?
- Did Brzezinski say a phrase about a new world order in the ruins of Russia?
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