Zakharova: War on "Russian Propaganda" is Just Clever Rebranding of Suppression of the Truth

- This is Russia's MFA Spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova. We don't even know where to start; there are so many hot-button issues. Looking at this picture, I want to ask something. When we dealt with the US residence, did we also cover it with a blue tarp or something? Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson: When I look at it, I also think of great illusionists going through walls. They also covered the walls with some fabric and then came out the other side. This is at the same level, I think. You'll laugh, but this tarp is rather symbolic. Everything our Western partners are doing right now is happening behind a curtain. They lack bravery, honesty, or openness. If you're breaking in, just admit to it. Just look at this, these women, who probably work for the State Department, are standing there, holding a tarp. It's the greenhouse effect in the State Department. It is what it is. They tell us it's legal, but they fail to mention under which law. Their diplomacy, calling it diplomacy is a stretch, their foreign policy is behind this tarp. Assad's alleged chemical strikes in Syria are also being covered with a tarp to conceal the truth. Look, she's even supporting it with her leg. - They're trying to climb the fence. - I can't look at it. - We've heard a statement from a wonderful woman named Heather Nauert. Obviously, she denies violating the Vienna Convention, saying that we got what we deserved. - To be honest, I just want to paint a picture here: If this State Department employee learns the truth about her country's actions, I wonder what she'll do about it. Right now, looking at their ridiculous behavior, we assume they don't know anything. Like when Psaki said that they'd send the Navy to Ukraine's shores, I mean, Belarus' shores. Just listen to the way they talk about the chemical attacks and the White Helmets who are 'saving people from Syria's chemicals.' We simply assume that they don't fully comprehend what's happening. We've seen them in action after they'd been misinformed by their own security chiefs. I wonder what these people, who cut a fence under the shroud of a tarp and try to climb it in a skirt, will do if they learn the truth. This is the question I cannot find an answer to. - Do you think the story with the diplomats was the end of it? - The end of what? - I mean, they exiled our diplomats, we did the same. They shut down our embassy, we retaliated. Is this all there is to it or is something else coming? - No, this is their program, their policy, it's the path they chose to follow. It's a fact that they have identical ideas and plans for several other countries. They send these people with blue tarps our way. They break into our embassy, among other things. They have their own problems with China, as you know. I'm talking about a full-blown trade war. China, this great power that has achieved more in the past few decades than anybody could've ever imagined, who manufacture everything that's sold in the US, is now facing the same treatment from them, but with some key differences, of course - The US doesn't treat China that way. Not yet. - Wait. They have different methods for everyone. They decided to use a blue tarp on us, and they're probably too scared to take it further. I guess all they're capable of doing is forcing their women to climb our fence. As for China, the US has great financial claims against them. They claim these claims are totally legitimate. What laws do they imply when pursuing these financial claims? This is an explicit policy on driving back competition by any means necessary. It reminds me of movie scenes when athletes put something in their rivals' sneakers, throwing them off their game, and jeopardizing their performance. They realize that other countries have grown enough politically, financially, and economically, thus becoming direct competitors to the US. The latter needs to fight them off, so they do. They don't care about anything else. Do you know why this tarp is symbolic? In Asian cultures, they have a term: 'to lose face.' This means that if you lose face, you must hide it well. This is some hybrid of that; a portrayal of western democracy. These are the people that have always been saying that a man needs the freedom to say what matters. Now, they're contradicting themselves. On the one hand, they're lying. On the other hand, they need to save face. They don't care that they're covering all their lies with this blue tarp. I wish it weren't there so people could see the lies, it would be more honest. But no, they display such hybrid behavior. On the one hand, there are these declared values that they claim to promote, that they say they want to give to the world: freedom, openness, and democracy. On the other hand, there's their tremendous fear of losing face. They're worried about being exposed. They're afraid that people will see what hides behind their lies which they pass off as truth. Listen, there was a briefing at the Ministry of Defense yesterday. They were all yelling, demanding proof that all the 'smart' missiles..." - Beautiful new missiles. - Right, 'beautiful new missiles'. The Americans claimed that all their missiles had reached their targets. The Ministry of Defense claimed otherwise. Their first reaction was to demand proof. How did Russia respond? Not a problem. We'll bring it from Syria and have it on full display. Everything that the Ministry of Defense did was done exactly the way they had said it would be done. Look at their reaction. There was none. There was a reaction in the media and nowhere else. Wait a moment, the US President himself claims that his 'smart, beautiful, new' missiles had reached all their targets. Just think about it for a moment. We're not talking about some deformed scrap metal; these missiles have their original serial numbers. We all know that every phone, every gadget has numbers on it used for tracking the device's history. They have numbers on them: issue dates, serial numbers, etc. We demand an answer from the US, but they remain silent. They're all hiding behind a blue tarp that's being held up by their women. - What's curious is that Trump had a late evening phone interview with the Fox News Network. He talked about Syria, but he never said a word about these missiles; he gave no proof. Do you know what else is interesting? The bottom line is that there has to be a public outcry to demand answers for all this. We are Russia and the US, we're two nuclear nations. How are events unfolding at the MFA, for instance? We can clearly see what's going on. Perhaps, we should begin speaking their language. Perhaps, we can be on the same level then. -What language? - I don't know, but what's happening is inconceivable. And now you have someone to talk to. Your boss has a new vis-a-vis. The US Senate has confirmed Mike Pompeo as the next Secretary of State. -This was predictable. It was supposed to happen, so it did. The question is how they will choose to speak. With lies? I'm sorry, but these people that held up the tarps, that climbed the fence, trespassing on our property, they've already left a mark in history, we can all see their faces. Decades later, they will represent what the US had done today, in 2018. This footage will never go away. Sure, there's a chance of some disaster that will wipe out the planet, but, their faces are already exposed. What I mean is that we're very open to anything the future may bring. However, this footage is a documentary, not fiction. They've left their mark in history, just like those who had advocated for Iraq and Libya. Are we supposed to follow their lead, saying and doing absurd things? Should we also hide behind tarps? No, we won't do that. Our people have different goals. We strive for cooperation. We send our delegation there, and we propose bilateral cooperation. Today, we've announced that our musical band will tour Europe, singing Victory Day songs. Their tour, their marathon will finish in the US. They'll perform for Americans, for our Americans who live in both countries, or those who chose to live in the US but are still a part of our history, our culture. And we think that's great, that's absolutely great. We've done everything we could to support this marathon. Victory Day songs by the Turetsky Choir Art Group will go to Paris on May 3rd, then they'll go to the UN headquarters in New York, finishing their incredible tour in New York. It'll be incredible because they've done it before. They performed it in Berlin a year ago, gathering 20,000 people from Berlin and other cities. They received great positive feedback afterwards. And we don't have doubts about going there; we don't say, 'it's abnormal,' or 'they don't love us there.' We don't think that way because the people do love us. I pity those people that had to hide behind the tarps, they're just following orders, and they're being set up. - There's a meeting underway at the OPCW. We're presenting evidence; we showed them evidence regarding the missiles yesterday. And today, 17 participants of that staged chemical attack are giving a live testimony there. Nobody showed up. - They've reached absurd lengths. For instance, France's Foreign Minister, Mr. Le Drian said that Russia now fabricates footage with Syrian children. - The boy that Zhenya Poddubny had found… - Right, Hassan. By the way, unlike Mr. Le Drian, Zhenya Poddubny has spent several years in Syria, under fire. Le Drian isn't the one to talk about what movies Russian journalists make. First, he needs to live there. At some point, they agreed among themselves that this footage was fake or staged, and, in reality, that there were 46 victims. So, where are all these victims? They only exist in social network publications, and we're all well aware of where they come from. They post using anonymous profile pictures only to disappear afterwards. For example, the official Twitter account of the UK Foreign Office mysteriously deletes its Twitter posts, it erases them while the whole world is watching. Do you see? And only thanks to media attention and modern internet technologies, we at least have the screenshots of what it was like before. And they have the guts to accuse us of fabrication? -But, still... -Do you see? So, now... - Maybe, these are the new rules of diplomacy. - As soon as the footage of this boy and his father was published, once they compared the footage and established that it is, in fact, the same child, when his story was made public after the interview with his parents, then, and I know this for sure, we started doing everything we can to make sure these people were seen by international organizations. It's obvious that they should appeal directly to the UNSC. - But the OPCW doesn't recognize their existence. - Of course not. They don't exist. They're behind the blue tarp, Zhenya. - Yes. - They've once again held up the blue tarp between the audience and these people. Now, they try to fiddle under the veil of night. What are we to do? We'll keep moving forward. We'll keep speaking up and explaining everything. - We hope we'll be able to explain it. But it's still all very terrifying and incredibly scary. The footage, the blue tarps. - I know we're running out of time but I need to say this. There is only one reason why they're fighting 'Russian propaganda' so hard. The truth is starting to come out, and it's impossible to keep it hidden. Sure, they can pretend everything is alright without the Russian media. However, it's impossible once there are people like Zhenya Poddubny, Nastya Popova, and you.