Lost in December's headlines about Ukraine and EuroMaidan, Vladimir Putin has dissolved RIA Novosti which was Russia's largest government-owned news agency. Under chief editor Svetlana Mironyuk, RIA Novosti had earned a reputation for professionalism and balance which obviously didn't set well with Putin. In its place will be a new news organization called Rossia Segodnya (Russia Today) which will be more tightly controlled and regulated by the Kremlin.
Leading the new Putin mouthpiece outlet will be Dmitry Kiselyov, a rabid anti-Western and anti-Ukrainian propagandist. Kiselyov has accused Western governments of organizing the current protests in Ukraine, and has said that gay people should be banned from giving blood and that their hearts should be incinerated when they die. The warped and xenophobic Kiselov is the precisely the sort of lackey-editor preferred by the increasingly authoritarian Putin.
Leading the new Putin mouthpiece outlet will be Dmitry Kiselyov, a rabid anti-Western and anti-Ukrainian propagandist. Kiselyov has accused Western governments of organizing the current protests in Ukraine, and has said that gay people should be banned from giving blood and that their hearts should be incinerated when they die. The warped and xenophobic Kiselov is the precisely the sort of lackey-editor preferred by the increasingly authoritarian Putin.
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