Russia in Syria: Jingoistic Russian media hail effectiveness of air strikes

With rock music blaring, the Russian jets scramble from a remote airfield, heading off to save the Syrian people from the clutches of Isis. For millions of Russians, Vladimir Putin’s incursion could be seen as an unqualified success.

Not since Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine last year has there been such co-ordination across print media, television and news websites. The frenzied message delivered to millions of Russians is clear: their involvement in Syria is warranted and effective.

To cover Russia’s first (official) overseas military venture since the collapse of the Soviet Union, state-owned Russian television channels have transferred correspondents covering war and conflict out of eastern Ukraine and into Syria. There they provide hour-by-hour updates on the Russian bombing, the pro-Russian sentiment of the local population and footage of Russian pilots and their jets.

Breathless presenters on state-owned channels based in Moscow echo Russian officials by hailing the effectiveness of the Russian strikes, the accuracy of the bombs and the legality of the operation.

In a Sunday news-wrap of the week’s events on the popular state-owned Channel One, a reporter showed photographs apparently showing hundreds of cars abandoned at the Turkish border by jihadists fleeing Russian air attacks. Opening another news bulletin on Channel One, a presenter said that “Islamic State” was on the verge of collapse. “After Russian aircraft began bombing … positions the militants began fleeing and surrendering,” she said, describing panic in the Isis stronghold of Raqqa and fighters running in terror towards Turkey and Iraq.

The Kremlin-friendly LifeNews website published a piece on Sunday claiming commanders were so worried about Russian air strikes they were not telling their soldiers about Russia’s involvement, fearing mass desertions.

State-owned media have launched a campaign against the “information war” on Russia – rejecting suggestions that Russian planes have killed innocent civilians or are shoring up Syrian President Bashar al-Assad by targeting US-backed moderate opposition groups. The state-controlled NTV television channel aired Anatomy of Propaganda at the weekend looking at Western reporting on Syria.

Channel One’s talk show, Let Them Talk, devoted an episode to the “information war”. Host Pyotr Tolstoy said: “The thing is that when you play with a card-sharp you always lose – so you should never play with card-sharps! You should just punch them in the face.”

On Tuesday, however, there appeared to have been a glitch in the PR machine. Only 24 hours after a weather forecaster on state-owned news channel Rossiya 24 described weather conditions in Syria as “very fortunate” for bombing raids, the Russian foreign ministry attempted to explain an incursion into Turkish airspace on Saturday. “The incident was the result of unfavourable weather conditions in the area,” the ministry said. “So there’s no need to look for any conspiracy theories here.”