‘It’s obscene’: Putin’s favourite commentator shutdown on live TV in rare rebuke

One of Russia’s biggest TV commentators, who parrots Putin’s talking points, has been angrily challenged in rare criticism of his warmongering.

One of Vladimir Putin’s cheerleaders in chief has been brutally shut down on his own TV talk show after a guests called his warmongering comments “obscene”.

Vladimir Solovyov is a leading commentator in Russia with his own prime time chat show.

Also knows as “Putin’s voice,” Solovyov has spent much of the Ukraine war wholeheartedly parroting the Russian President’s weak justification for the conflict while darkly talking about the use of nuclear weapons.

Most of the time his hand-picked guests nod in furious agreement to his bloody pronouncements.

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Evening with Vladimir Solovyov gives the Putin supporter plenty of airtime to regurgitate Kremlin views. Picture: Russia Media Monitor

But on a recent episode of Evening with Vladimir Solovyov – translated by Russian Media Monitor – one guest appeared to leave the firebrand host speechless and fuming at the temerity of someone to disagree with him.

Solovyov was ranting about Russia’s recent battlefield defeats and how much of a threat Ukraine’s forces could pose.

“We don’t have an overwhelming advantage on the front lines and since summer we’re on the defensive.

“Our position is unfortunate,” said Solovyov.

“If (Ukraine) decide to enter (the Russian border city of) Belgorod, is our defence line prepared? Will we applaud them? Will we say ‘no don’t you dare’.

“I will ask for 156th time. Why don’t we say if (Ukraine is) shelling us: ‘Kharkiv will be wiped off the face of the earth, Kyiv will be destroyed’”.

Former Israeli politician Yaakov Kedmi took Vladimir Solovyov to task. Picture: Russia Media Monitor.

Former Israeli politician Yaakov Kedmi took Vladimir Solovyov to task. Picture: Russia Media Monitor.

That comment appalled former Israeli diplomat Yaakov Kedmi who was appearing on the show.

“These words: ‘to wipe Kyiv and Kharkiv off the face of the earth’. They should not be uttered, especially in Russian.

“It’s obscene; it’s not constructive; it’s criminal to bomb peaceful cities.

“There were no wars in history where the bombing of a peaceful city or a civilian population ever led to some kinds of results on the battlefield,” Kedmi continued.

“Would they be deterred by that? When did it ever happen? It didn’t happen in any war.”

Solovyov tried to hit back at Kedmi.

“Fine, then we will keep responding on the level of a girl in the 5th grade who’s crying that our peaceful cities have been bombed. That’s the other option,” he said.

Meanwhile in Russia: a rare moment of sanity on Russian state TV, when one panelist was finally fed up with Vladimir Solovyov's threats to wipe Kyiv or Kharkiv off the face of the earth. pic.twitter.com/Ty4k8sK26y

— Julia Davis (@JuliaDavisNews) November 21, 2022

“No, if you have two options, I have 20 others, said Kedmi, angrily.

“But it’s not an option to bomb a peaceful city and its population

“’To wipe a city of the face of the earth’ is obscene. There are 1001 ways to fight without touching civilians.”

Vladimir Solovyov looked super unimpressed. Picture: Russia Media Monitor.

Kedmi’s remarks left Solovyov seemingly lost for words and visibly smarting.

Kedmi is no Russian dived suing for peace. In May the pro-Kremlin hawk raised the prospect of Moscow bombing Britain “back to the Stone Age” due to its vocal support for Ukraine.

It’s not the first time Solovyov has advocated for the wholesale destruction of Ukrainian cities.

In October, he railed at Russia’s failure to take Kharkiv.

“If we hadn’t left the Kharkiv area, there wouldn’t be a problem in Belgorod,” said the state television anchor.

“The problem now is that we’re worrying about our villages being shelled.

“If we’d taken Kharkiv – it’s obvious (Ukraine’s) main logistics and supply centre is there.

“Wipe it off the face of the f***ing Earth if we have to. Warn the civilians, tell them ‘You’ve got 24 hours, 48 hours [to leave]’. After that we begin to destroy the city block by block.”

Russia has recently upped its bombing campaign against Ukrainian infrastructure such as power stations including installations in major cities. As has been the way with Russian missiles, several have hit residential buildings killing civilians.

Originally published as ‘It’s obscene’: Putin’s favourite commentator shutdown on live TV in rare rebuke