"Rossiyskaya Gazeta" published an article under the heading: "From admiration to a restrained reaction: how the world media reacted to the President's Address to the Federal Assembly." At the very beginning of the article, the publication states:
“Such a spectacular performance attracted the attention of all the world's media, whose reactions ranged from positive and admiring in the East to restrained in the West. The speech of the Russian president caused a positive reaction among journalists who work in the Middle East.”
As evidence, the publication refers to two TV channels – Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera. However, in fact, both media reacted to the speech of the Russian president more than with restraint. On the Al Arabiya website, you can find only one article dedicated to Putin's message. It consists of quotes from the President of Russia without any words of admiration and support. The material can even be considered too neutral for the channel – usually Al Arabiya is more openly sympathetic to the Russian president. The only thing that seemed to interest the channel in Putin's speech was the suspension of Russia's participation in the START-3 treaty. This is the subject of a separate article.
Rossiyskaya Gazeta also included the Al Jazeera TV channel among the "admired". Russian media writes:
“Similar articles were published by representatives of the Al Jazeera television channel, who drew attention to the words of the Russian leader that the West spent more money on military aid to Kiev than on helping poor countries.”
The media actually released three materials about the president's message, but they do not contain a hint of a "positive reaction." So, one of the articles consists of a set of quotes from Putin without analytics. Two videos are also inserted into it: the first is a short excerpt from Putin's message in Russian, the second is a part of the Al Jazeera broadcast dedicated to the message. In the last video, the journalists of the TV channel left a quote from Putin that the West spent more money on helping Ukraine than on helping poor countries. This was also emphasized by an Al Jazeera correspondent from Moscow, without expressing any relation to the words of the Russian president:
“Vladimir Putin came out defending his operation, telling his people why he had to declare war and why he was not retreating.”
The presenter also gave the floor to a correspondent from Kyiv, who spoke in more detail:
“Leaders <in Kyiv> will probably see from this speech that nothing has really changed. There was no agenda change. He didn't say anything that he hadn't said in the past to try to really make a case for why Russia had to attack…
Today's Ukraine is different from what it was a year ago. They are very advanced. And one thing that has happened is, win or lose, Ukraine will now take its place in another league – at the table with Western allies, at the table with NATO members, at the table with EU members. Public, political, economic life in Ukraine now revolves around the West – probably the exact opposite of what the Russian leadership was trying to achieve with this invasion.
Al Jazeera published two more pieces on how Putin's speech was perceived in the West and in Ukraine, under the headings: "Putin is angry with the West in his speech, which was perceived as absurd propaganda" and "Shifting the blame: Ukraine responds to Putin's message" . As you might guess, there is no admiration for the Russian president either.
The last argument of Rossiyskaya Gazeta was the Chinese edition of Guancha. It devoted a large complimentary article to Putin's speech, where he described in detail all the main theses of the president. In addition, the publication did not refuse references to pro-Kremlin media and Peskov's words that the president personally wrote his message.
However, in the case of Guancha, there is one caveat: it is the mouthpiece of Chinese nationalists. This edition is called "ultranationalist" not only in the West , but also in China itself . The media initially took a pro-Putin stance. Thus, the publication published fakes that the Russian military aims only at military facilities, while Ukraine uses civilians as human shields.
Guancha has been spreading fake news during the coronavirus pandemic as well. So, the publication invented a certain Swiss scientist named Wilson Edwards, who allegedly claimed that Western politicians, led by the United States, are trying to inflate the theory that the virus struck people due to a leak in a Chinese laboratory. However, later, thanks to the Swiss Embassy in China, it turned out that there is no Wilson Edwards in the register of Swiss citizens, and his Facebook page was created quite recently. After that, the Chinese media removed the article.
So Rossiyskaya Gazeta shouldn't have mentioned Guancha among Putin's fans. But the publication definitely did not fail with one thing – the reaction to the message from the authoritative Western media was really restrained.
