“I resigned because of the war in Ukraine. » For the first time since the Russian offensive in Ukraine, Zhanna Agalakova has chosen to speak about her departure. “I hesitated a lot”, she admitted. The former correspondent in Paris of Pervy Kanal, the first Russian television channel (controlled half by the State and half by the private sector), held a press conference on Tuesday March 22 at the offices of Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The opportunity for her to tell the Russian media and the propaganda imposed by the Kremlin.
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“If I give this interview, it is not for you Western media, but for the Russians”warned Zhanna Agalakova before her speech. “Zombified by propaganda”the Russians do not see “only one point of view of history, that of the Kremlin”, assured the journalist. So she would like to elicit a reaction from them. “The free press is essential to any society” democracy, she recalled, “but the Russian authorities have tried to strangle all the independent media”.
“We made him president”
For more than twenty years, Zhanna Agalakova was a journalist in one of the most important Russian propaganda instruments. If the television woman did not want to specify the daily functioning of this propaganda, she nevertheless revealed some guidelines. ” Paradoxically, we did not speak of Russia in our news but only of the first man of the country. Every day, we only had to show one person, (Vladimir Putin, editor’s note), whatever he says, whatever he does. We made him president. »
A dynamic that the journalist had trouble supporting. “When I realized that I was an actor in this maneuver, I thought that I did not want to participate in it. I wanted to leave, but I didn’t have the courage. » In 2005, Zhanna Agalakova nevertheless left her position as a television news presenter to become a correspondent in Paris, then in New York. ” A loop-hole “she assured, in order to be able to deal with the news with more freedom. “But when the war in eastern Ukraine started in 2014, I realized that I was no longer safe from propaganda”she confided. “We had to look only for negative news about the United States. » Spinning the legend of the elephant described by the blind, the journalist explained that she never broadcast lies but simply concealed part of the reality.
The trigger of the offensive in Ukraine
After a six-year American parenthesis, Zhanna Agalakova returned to France, to Paris in 2019. She resumed her position there as a correspondent for Pervy Kanal. His last subject was published on February 17. When the Russian army launched its offensive on Ukrainian territory, the journalist was on vacation. Very quickly, she made the decision to resign. “There was no way for me to continue to call it “peaceful operation”, (what is happening in Ukraine, editor’s note) it’s called a warshe explained in French.
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A war that does not say its name, and which is the subject of an intense propaganda campaign by the regime of Vladimir Putin. Kremlin leader equates Ukrainians with Nazis, “sensitive chord” for the Russians, recalled Zhanna Agalakova, while the extreme right has only a minor place in Ukraine. The journalist also wanted to alert the West: the economic sanctions primarily affect the Russian middle class, which is nevertheless sensitive to democratic values. “You lose your allies”she said in the direction of Western countries. “Putin is not Russia, and the sanctions condemn the country to extreme poverty”, the journalist was moved.
Zhanna Agalakova’s speech contrasts with the lock of Russian discourse. “There are many people in the Russian media who think like me”, she assured. But in Russia, journalists are “trapped” by the system, she said. “It’s easier for me because I’m in France and I’m relatively protected”underlined the journalist.