A Picture-Perfect Scene: How "News" Segments Were Filmed In Russia Specifically For Putin
- 17.06.2026, 15:07
They tried to shield the dictator from information he found unpleasant.
Russian propaganda media outlets produced personalized special news broadcasts for Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, in which they presented him with exclusively positive news. This was carried out by employees of the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company.
This was reported by the former editor-in-chief of the “Rossiya-1” television channel, opposition journalist Dmitry Skorobutov, in an interview with the project "And Graham Struck". According to him, the production of news broadcasts for the dictator began in 2011 following the protests on Bolotnaya Square in St. Petersburg.
Personalized news broadcasts were prepared for Putin
According to him, the project was called “The Main Viewer” at the propaganda broadcaster’s newsroom; it contained virtually no bad news, and the main body of the report consisted of embellished information about the government’s successes and achievements.
“Let’s say a regular edition of ‘Vesti’ aired at 8 p.m., after which the production team stayed behind. We were, of course, given instructions on which news items to keep in that broadcast, which to add, where to embellish things, and what to select—all so that we could later present Putin with a perfect picture of today’s wonderful Russia. ‘Look what a great president he is, and look how well they’re talking about you on TV. So it must be true—what you’re doing is all right.’ And that’s how we filmed it,” he said.
The media insider stated that personalized special reports were shown to Putin through the press service of the Russian presidential administration. The Kremlin adopted this approach following the protests on Bolotnaya Square in St. Petersburg.
“They (Putin’s inner circle—Ed.) were all shocked by Bolotnaya, and they tried to isolate Putin from real events and the information environment, not to mention direct contact with the outside world,” says Skorobutov.
This approach subsequently intensified the news anchor’s information isolation and reduced the amount of objective information received by the Russian authorities, including regarding the situation on the front lines.
“They began censoring the war for him after the cruiser ‘Moscow’ was sunk. Putin was kept in the dark for over a week—he didn’t know he no longer had the cruiser *Moscow*, that all he had left was the ‘second army in the world,’* the journalist said.
Who is Dmitry Skorobutov
Dmitry Skorobutov began his television career on the program “Namedi,” where he was invited by journalist Leonid Parfenov in 2000. However, he later moved to “International Panorama” at VGTRK, and by 2006, at the age of 26, he became the editor-in-chief of “Vesti” on the “Russia-1” television channel.
In 2016, Skorobutov was brutally beaten in the newsroom of the propaganda broadcaster; VGTRK management subsequently attempted to cover up the incident, and he was unlawfully fired. He subsequently left Russia for Switzerland and later condemned the Russian invasion in 2022.
After that, he began openly publishing the TV channel’s internal instructions from Putin’s administration and also disclosed information about the Kremlin’s censorship of Russian television.