A publicity stunt orchestrated by the Kremlin for Vladimir Putin this week backfired within just a few hours of its broadcast.
The Russian leader had the starring role in a brief audio clip described as a phone conversation between Putin and a top commander on the battlefield in Ukraine. Released by the Kremlin and immediately amplified by a string of state-controlled media outlets, the seemingly scripted phone chat was widely seen–even by one of Putin’s own former advisers–as an unprecedented move aimed at pushing back against humiliating reports of Russian military setbacks and appeasing frustrated troops.
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