According to Russian media expert Julia Davis, writing at the Daily Beast, Kremlin state media has ramped up the racist talk while reporting on the Black Lives Matter protests, with some hosts worrying that the outrage over the police shootings of African-Americans will derail Donald Trump's re-election plans.
As Olga Skabeeva, host of the Russian equivalent of "60 Minutes" put it: “Negroes are raging all over the place in their country. Should we get involved?”
According to Davis, the commentary on Russian state media is unabashedly racist in tone while discussing Trump's electoral prospects.
Noting a New York Times report stating that "Russian intelligence operatives are very much involved, attempting to incite violence by white supremacist groups," Davis explained, "Kremlin-controlled state media messaging is consistent with the perception that Russian intelligence officials are striving to appeal to President Trump’s core voters, aiming to influence the upcoming presidential election."
On "The Evening with Vladimir Soloviev," Russian state television fixture Karen Shakhnazarov told the audience, "For us, this is a very useful period. Let’s be straightforward about it, the weakening of the United States is very beneficial for us.”
Davis reports that Oleg Nilov, member of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, told his colleagues, "The breakup of the United States of America is already under way.”
"Also appearing on 60 Minutes, the former deputy foreign minister Andrei Fedorov, who now heads a political consultancy, declared that 'black terror' was coming to America. 'Give them a piece of the pie and they’ll want the whole pie,”'Fedorov declared. A panelist from the Russian International Affairs Council, Alexey Naumov, was concerned that the protests might lead to 'reverse segregation' against white people," Davis reported.
"Likewise, the Kremlin is still stumping for Trump’s re-election, undeterred by the threat of additional sanctions recently proposed by the Republican Study Committee. Addressing the GOP’s strategy proposal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, 'We hope that these plans will remain at the level of statements and will not materialize in any way,'" she continued, before pointing out that Russian officials are not hiding who they want to win in America's November election.
“Republicans and Democrats have different enemies. Russia will always be enemy No. 1 for the Democrats. That’s why I would say that Biden is not very beneficial for us. For the Republicans, China is the main enemy. If I was placing wagers, I would support Trump in some way, shape or form—which is what our government is doing, ”Dmitry Suslov, deputy director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies confessed.
You can read more here (subscription required).