But after you talk to the man in the street, it becomes clear that this popular support is a bluff. Putin's rating is dubious. And the few surveys of public opinion that seep through the pages of our newspapers show that 42 to 46 percent of Russians are in favor of instituting talks with the Chechens. Our military and political leaders think a victory like the one in Kosovo will justify everything. While the media writes about the Chechens gassing themselves, symptoms of self-poisoning propaganda are becoming more noticeable in the Russian camp.
Optimists believe that propaganda is all-powerful.
No matter how bad things are in reality, the leadership can, with the support of TV, successfully fool people ad infinitum. The pessimists, on the other hand, insist that sooner or later the truth will out. Then there will be an enormous scandal that will make the military and information defeats of the first Chechen war seem like child's play. After all, from 1994 to 1996 the press enjoyed a certain authority, earned in covering the war in Chechnya for the support of the leadership during the presidential elections support for the very leadership that started the war. The Kremlin played that game successfully.