"The guys were just driving to work..." TV praised the workaholic from PMC Wagner

There is another crisis in Russian-Belarusian relations, and the task of Propaganda-TV is to somehow play it up, smoothing out unpleasant moments and, if possible, avoiding unpleasant questions.

Sergey Mitrofanov

This is done this way: all those who could express at least some doubts about the official interpretation of the crisis are excluded from the talking heads, and all those present are blowing in general in the same tune. What's even funnier, because all together they fall into the same pits of meaning.

So, the crisis lies in the fact that on the territory of the Republic of Belarus a Russian militant group (without weapons) in the amount of 33 people was found, which supposedly should join another two or three hundred employees of the so-called PMC Wagner, about which the Belarusian State Security has somewhat tensed.

And she tensed because in relation to Belarus and personally to Lukashenko, whose popularity in Belarus is obviously declining, the Kremlin's plans are not too definite.

From time to time, this or that "tower" comes up with an idea to swallow Belarus and form a new state with zeroing of all terms of rotation of the "united" president and elites. And if not, if not, then replace Lukashenka with a more pro-Russian or "weak" ruler, who will be easy to subdue. And the appearance of “Wagnerians” in Belarus on the eve of the elections could well mean the launch of one of these scenarios.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that Lukashenka himself works as a barrier on two sides. On the one hand, it does not allow the development of a pro-Western opposition in Belarus, which Russia certainly welcomes, but at the same time, by preventing it from swallowing up Belarus, it dialectically prolongs this opposition's lifetime and preserves its pro-Western potential, which is “destructive” for the Slavic brotherhood. And many in Russia really, really don't like this. Moreover, in his last address to the people and parliament, Lukashenka identified the frightening multi-vector development of Belarus - both with the United States and China as the main determining forces in the world. Isn't it time to stop him before he dares to exchange the geopolitical position of Belarus for some handouts from the West?

At the same time, Russian TV claims that PMC Wagner (private military company) as such does not exist in nature, this is a legend invented by Radio Liberty. Mercenarism in Russia is indeed prohibited, and the Russian authorities are unlikely to allow anyone in Russia to create private armies - since it is impossible to gather privately for a picket. But the TV militants captured in Belarus are affectionately called “guys” or “our guys” by TV, creating complementary connotations. Officials speak about them in the same way - the Russian ambassador to Belarus Mezentsev, the deputies, the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service Naryshkin, the presidential press secretary Peskov, and the Russian president himself does not hesitate to draw his benevolent attention to them.

According to the official version of Russia, “our guys” went to work like ordinary Chopovtsy, they didn’t do anything illegal, and since the border with the union Belarus was open and they had all the documents in perfect order, they could move in wherever they wanted and move in an organized manner. like a group of tourists, peacefully and unarmed. What, they say, is this?

However, there are nuances.

By definition, "chopovtsy" (private security guards) are usually those who walk along the fence with a Berdan gun, and non-existent Wagnerians, as a rule, in places of hostilities are equipped with all kinds of lethal weapons - rockets, grenades...

They are fully at war in Syria, then in the Donbass, and even in Africa they are seen. Behind the scenes it is believed that they are supervised by the Ministry of Defense and the FSB when their special operations do not receive official status and require some detachment from the Kremlin.

Recently, Pompeo recalled that America toughly dealt with three hundred of these "chopovtsy" when they tried to "guard" the object, which the Americans claimed.

“I can assure you that those 300 Russians who were in Syria and took actions that threatened America, and who are no longer with us on this planet, also understood this”, - Pompeo said cynically. And no one objected to this Pompeo. “Our guys” were quietly buried and forgotten. This is understandable, the Wagnerites do not exist, and for the Chopovites it is somehow cool to attack American objects.

There are other semantic holes in our current situation.

Everyone in Russia calls the Russian Federation-Belarus a union state, and Lukashenko an uncontested leader who is very much loved in Russia. Indeed, some people sometimes even dream of Lukashenko instead of Putin, if the elections are general and fair. But at the same time, not a single really warm, union word about Lukashenka and Belarus is NEVER uttered in the elite.

He is called a parasite and a parasite, and they predict an inglorious end to Gaddafi if he turns his back on Russia. We also remember the not-so-long campaign of Channel One against Lukashenka, when he was shown together with his son, dressed in a military jacket, in the premises of the Belarusian state security, where two dictators - old and young - touched and counted "their" gold.

It is unlikely that since then the image of Lukashenko has cleared of negativity. On the contrary, it faded even more when the Belarusian State Security Committee harshly ran into a group of Russian military tourists. Trying to explain the presence of such a group in Belarus, although an explanation seems to be required - the Russians have the right to move in groups (if not in defense of Furgal and not in pickets), Russian newsmakers have piled up a lot of suspicious things.

For example, who signed a contract with our "chopovtsy" (private security guards) and for the protection of what? Hey? Unclear. Why, when they were arrested, the fighters began to burn electronic tickets with fright, although the figure, as you know, does not light up. Why, as it was said, they are depressed after the arrest. And what nonsense is it with being late for the plane - they are so disciplined, they don't drink, they don't go after the ladies, but suddenly they were late for the plane, and as much as two weeks?

The problem, as I see it, is that we think over an action three moves ahead, and as a rule, they do not think over the fourth one. Fourth, what were the Salisbury poisoners doing in Salisbury if they weren't poisoning anyone? What exactly were “our guys” going to guard if they were actually chop officers? Hey, no answer. One even said that he was going to inspect the cathedral in Turkey, or rather the mosque. Was he kidding? Trollil? Looped? Or didn’t know what to say?

In general, in the absence of opponents (and there are, many do not believe neither the Kremlin, nor the Chopovites, nor Lukashenka), our loyalist talking heads speak a lot, choke on words, as if they are also hurrying to the plane, and are incomprehensible. Even the expert of all questions Abzalov. He often repeats the phrase “the problem is that”, but what is the real problem here remains unclear this time.

And the problem, probably, is that when it smells of the fried, then fraternal Slavic friendship is to be described as "we might be very good friends, but our tobacco is of different brands".