As the world watched TV screens and Twitter streams showing Baltimore in chaos, Russia’s propaganda machine got to work exploiting the unrest with what is known locally as “whataboutism.”
In the Soviet era, any criticism of the Motherland — such human rights violations or censorship — was met with a “what about…” in an attempt to redirect attention away from Moscow.
See also: Russian state media seizes propaganda opportunity in Ferguson
Baltimore’s protests were used in the Russian media as a comparison with the situation in Ukraine, where protesters in February 2014 ousted the country’s Moscow-leaning president, Viktor Yanukovych, after three months of …read more
Source: Mashable
