Kathrine Frich
When disaster strikes a capital city, citizens expect their leader to step up to the microphone.
A major crisis demands reassurance and a clear plan of action. But sometimes, the people looking for guidance only hear a heavy silence.
That scenario is playing out in Russia right now. A massive drone strike recently hammered Moscow and its surrounding region, leaving 17 people injured.
The historic attack crashed into a residential block and ignited fires at two separate shopping centers. It even triggered a massive explosion at the Kapotna oil refinery, raining fuel oil and black smoke down on the terrified region.
Despite the chaos, President Vladimir Putin completely ignored the crisis for more than a day.
Talking about elephants
While his capital burned, the Russian leader was busy attending an ASEAN summit in Kazan. He discussed global trade and building a multipolar world.
According to Digi24, Putin held meetings with various international leaders while the drone strike unfolded. He promised joint tourism initiatives to the Sultan of Brunei and thanked the prime minister of Laos for gifting him two elephants.
He ended the summit by wishing local residents a happy holiday and praising civilian ships. On Friday, Putin chaired a Security Council meeting where he introduced a foreign policy report from Sergei Lavrov, omitting the drone strike once again.
Running out of trust
Political experts believe this public silence is a deliberate strategy. Political scientist Abbas Gallyamov noted that the president likely wanted to project a sense of total calm to the Russian public.
However, the tactic seems to be backfiring. Gallyamov explained that ordinary people see the silence “as evidence that he is either inadequate or does not care about the suffering of the people.”
He added that the Kremlin has lost the basic trust of its citizens. “And this basic trust, after four years of stories about the fact that ‘everything is going according to plan,’ is simply missing,” Gallyamov said.
Wiping the screens
The state media machine quickly followed the official lead. Major television networks barely mentioned the historic attack, despite serving as the primary news source for millions of older citizens.
Channel One gave the disaster a mere 20 seconds of airtime during its morning broadcast. Russia-1 aired just 36 seconds of footage before moving on.
By the time the evening news rolled around, the entire topic had vanished. For the Kremlin and its television channels, the biggest attack on Moscow simply never happened.
Sources: Digi24
