Russian State TV Presenter Just Said The Quiet Part Out Loud

Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov appeared to lament the break up of the Soviet Union during a recent broadcast.

The anchor of an evening show on the Russia 1 state TV channel that bears his name, Solovyov has repeatedly framed Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a proxy battle between Moscow and the West. His rhetoric includes calling for missile strikes on countries supporting Kyiv, as well as decrying Ukraine and the West that supports it as "satanic."

But during his radio show Full Contact, he seemed to hanker for a Cold War world, according to a video tweeted by Ukrainian internal affairs adviser Anton Gerashchenko.

"Give back the territory," Soloyvov said, "give back the Soviet Union its territory."

"Why the f*** did it collapse? Because some degenerates started talking about some sovereignty?"

Next to the 10-second clip he shared, Gerashchenko wrote, "the regular 'bring back the Soviet Union!'" installment by Russian propagandist Solovyov."

The anchor has hosted discussions harking back to Russia's Soviet past and praising the achievements of the USSR. For instance in March, Solovyov said that its invasion of Ukraine meant that Moscow was "at war with terrorists and this must be very clearly understood," adding that "we must use the methods that were used during Stalin's time."

Solovyov has close links with Vladimir Putin, who himself once described the break-up of the Soviet Union as "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the 20th century.

However, the Russian president has been accused of harboring imperial ambitions, starting with his invasion of Ukraine, rather than pushing for a return to the era of the USSR when he was an agent with the KGB,

Frequently condemning NATO countries for their support of Ukraine, Solovyov said last week that the alliance "should simply be destroyed," describing the bloc, whose defense ministers are meeting in Brussels on Thursday, as "a universal evil."

He also called NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who today reiterated alliance support for Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression, a "hysterical, stupid Norwegian herring."

While Russian state broadcasters are given a framework in advance of topics to discuss, how closely Moscow's propagandists reflect Kremlin thinking is unclear.

Maxim Alyukov, a postdoctoral fellow at King's Russia Institute in London, who researches Russian propaganda, told Newsweek recently that presenters like Solovyov "compete both for public attention and for attention from the Kremlin."

He described the broadcasts as "like a half-political, half-commercial machine" in which the presenters often feel they "need to say something shocking."

"It's like a laboratory, they're experimenting with different narratives to see if they resonate with the public."