Julia Davis reports:

The midterm elections in the United States were a hot topic in Moscow. Convinced that the “red wave” was coming, Russian propagandists rushed to take credit for the anticipated landslide victory that would ensure Republican majority in Congress and Senate.

On Tuesday, Russia’s Tucker Carlson, top propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, greeted his audience by wishing them a “Happy Interference in the U.S. Election Day.” Yevgeny Prigozhin, known as “Putin’s chef,” who was indicted as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference, likewise decided to publicly fess up to the allegations he previously denied.

This plan to discredit the U.S. elections and convince the Republicans that the mighty Kremlin hand covertly helped push them to victory had backfired. On Wednesday, state TV propagandists were scratching their heads about the wave that turned out to be but a trickle. During the broadcast of 60 Minutes, host Olga Skabeeva asked an expert: “How are our guys in America?” Political scientist Vladimir Kornilov clarified with a chuckle: “Our Republicans.”

Dmitry Abzalov, Director of the Center for Strategic Communications, noted that the outcome was much different than the predictions: “Even the Democrats predicted the red wave that will mow everything down, but it turned out to be quite modest.” Political scientist Vladimir Kornilov said, “The worst fears of the Democrats are now behind them. They easily won the states they were most concerned about.”

Co-host of 60 Minutes Evgeny Popov surmised: “Republican triumph or the tsunami did not materialize… Trump is already calling on Americans to protest ballot stuffing and not allowing his opponents to disrupt the elections.”

Russian state TV coverage focused on baseless allegations of various issues supposedly plaguing U.S. elections, featuring the footage of Kari Lake, candidate for governor of Arizona, and former U.S. President Donald J. Trump, complaining that the polling stations were “running out of paper” and experiencing various mishaps.

Skabeeva exclaimed: “Come out [in the streets], Americans! You are being lied to!” Abzalov pointed out that at least January should be “fun,” predicting that Republicans would attempt to impeach U.S. President Joe Biden. Skabeeva complained: “They will impeach but won’t be able to overthrow him. We’ve seen how it went down with our friend, our comrade Donald—and it happened more than once.” [Continue reading…]