It’s now the final day of Putin’s three-day reelection, so here’s a new thread

To start us off, this is pro-war pop star Shaman (Yaroslav Dronov) crossing himself as he casts his vote

As if Putin requires divine intervention to secure his victory… t.me/rian_ru/235852
And now for an actual shaman!

The Supreme Shaman of Russia and Tyva, Kara-ool Dopchun-ool, has cast his vote in Kyzyl t.me/tass_agency/23…

On day one of three, the spectacle of Putin’s re-election is already serving up plenty of content, so here’s a thread: Pro-war singer Stas Mikhailov performing at a polling station in Omsk

Mikhailov previously said that musicians who had left Russia after the invasion would "crawl back on their knees"
t.me/sotaproject/76…

Oops, looks like this text message slipped through the net!

"Why is your 'reality' at odds with our lived reality?"

I suspect Putin won't be asked this one Another one here

"Mr President, when will the real Russia be the same as the one on TV?"

Footage is circulating of what is reportedly the aftermath of a Russian Su-34 crashing into a block of flats in the city of Yeysk in Krasnodar Territory

Judging by the bangs, it was loaded up with ammunition

The pilot apparently managed to eject The Defence Ministry confirms that it happened during a training flight. Apparently one of the engines caught fire during take off t.me/rian_ru/182155

By now we've all seen the hunt for scapegoats by Russian military bloggers playing out following the defeat to Ukraine in Lyman

But what did state TV's mammoth Sunday night news shows have to say about it?

A brief 🧵 Well, Channel One's programme didn't even mention Lyman!

Instead, war correspondent Dmitry Kulko said in his report that "in the last month since Kyiv announced its offensive on Lysychansk, the 20km frontline has turned into a cemetery for Ukrainian fighters"

It's just like coronavirus when the Kremlin didn't want to be seen by the Russian public as responsible for lockdowns so delegated all such unpopular decisions to the regional authorities

Will be interesting to see if this catches on

https://twitter.com/BBCWillVernon/status/1570360567403270144

Here's another one:

Sergei Aksyonov, head of the Moscow-backed administration in Crimea, says he "fully supports" Kadyrov's initiative
t.me/Aksenov82/1469

The change of tone from the Kremlin's media machine today, as exemplified by this post written by state TV reporter Andrei Medvedev, has been nothing short of extraordinary

I'm intrigued to hear what Dmitry Kiselyov has to say on tomorrow night's show
t.me/MedvedevVesti/… For comparison, here are a few quotes from earlier this week:

"Ukraine is trying to convince the West not to write it off, but it needs to be said that many are believing Kyiv's fairytales." (Ruslan Ostashko, Time Will Tell on Channel One - Monday)

Russian rock star Sergei Shnurov's transformation is surely now complete

This photo of him in the "LNR" town of Irmino alongside "Putin's chef" Yevgeny Prigozhin and Georgy Bolonev, who acted in the 2021 film The Tourist (reportedly backed by Prigozhin), is circulating online Here's a good overview of the film and its context by @PjotrSauer themoscowtimes.com/2021/05/21/new…

Serbian President Vucic alleges that Kosovo is going to launch a military operation tonight and this member of his party is talking about Serbia needing to "denazify" the Balkans

Very worrying signs

https://twitter.com/adv_djukanovic/status/1553675476123762690

That said, this is from someone who has a much better idea than me of what's going on there:

https://twitter.com/UnaHajdari/status/1553808798896340993?t=svmxQbuY2R3UwqXDNraAgA&s=19

Russia's FSB claims that it foiled an assassination attempt organised by Ukraine on state TV's Vladimir Solovyov

https://twitter.com/Kremlinpool_RIA/status/1518544419586293761

Here's the list of what they apparently seized in a raid: One IED, eight Molotov cocktails, six Makarov pistols, a sawed-off shot gun, a grenade, over 1,000 rounds of ammo, drugs, forged Ukrainian passports, and "nationalist literature and paraphernalia"

Sounds very realistic

British "journalist" Graham Phillips is on Russian state TV's Antifake programme offering support for their wild claims, but his Russian is so ropey that in places they've had to add subtitles @FrancescaEbel

An op-ed for state news agency RIA Novosti titled "What Russia should do with Ukraine" by pundit Timofei Sergeitsev has created quite a stir today

The rhetoric is truly horrific, even by the standards of what I'm used to seeing from pro-Kremlin media

Below are a few quotes: "Denazification is a set of measures aimed at the nazified mass of the population, which technically cannot be subjected to direct punishment as war criminals"

Russian state TV's Dmitry Kiselyov as predictable as ever tonight

"Ukraine is literally being dragged into war with Russia" Studio caption: "Constructing a provocation"

"In the coming week America will invent a provocation, or has already invented one, to accuse Donbas, which means Russia too, of invading Ukraine"