Current and former employees describe Russian state television as an army, with a few generals and many foot soldiers who never question the generals' orders.

Six evenings a week, Vladimir Solovyov, one of Russia's leading propaganda figures, gathers half a hundred experts to spend more than two hours leading what appears to be an unscripted, spontaneous political discussion. Recent episodes have been largely dedicated to mocking Ukraine and its allies – particularly the US and President Biden – and discussing Russia's capabilities.

"Should we just turn the world to dust?" Solovyov asked on his show on 29 April. His guests – seven middle-aged men – laughed heartily. Later, Solovyov turned sombre. "I would like to remind the West of two historically significant statements," he said. "The President of the Russian Federation has asked: 'What is the point of a world in which there is no Russia?'" This is a quote from Solovyov’s own 2018 interview with Vladimir Putin, in which Putin was answering a question about the possibility of nuclear war. The second statement quoted by Solovyov was also from Putin in 2018: "If they start a nuclear war, we will respond. But we, as righteous people, will go straight to heaven, while they will just shriek." Solovyov quotes this often, sometimes as a kind of rallying cry and answer to his guests.

All television channels in Russia are owned by the state or are under state control. The main evening news broadcasts of the two primary state channels, Channel One and Russia-1, broadcast largely the same stories in a very similar order. For example, on 30 April, Channel One began with a report from a village that had recently been "liberated from neo-Nazis"; Russia-1 started its news broadcast with general information about the successes achieved by Russian troops – "Hundreds of neo-Nazis liquidated, dozens of strikes on airborne targets, several strikes on command centres and equipment depots". Both news broadcasts reported on atrocities allegedly committed by Ukrainian troops. "The Ukrainian army has again bombed civilian targets," claimed Russia One. Channel One broadcast a confession allegedly made by a Ukrainian prisoner of war who claimed to have raped a Russian woman and killed her husband. Both channels broadcast reports from a military hospital, where a group of young men in matching striped pyjamas received medals for their heroism in "liberating" Ukrainian cities and villages. (...)