Kremlin Just Completely Flipped The Script! Does Putin Know? - The Russian Dude

What just happened in early 2026 looks surreal even by Kremlin standards. Russian state television and official diplomats suddenly flipped the script, openly condemning a so-called “special military operation,” praising protests, defending dissent, and speaking the language of international law, dialogue, and restraint. Channels that spent years branding protesters as traitors now frame them as heroes, while officials talk about sovereignty, moral responsibility, and the dangers of armed aggression. At first glance, it feels like a shocking reversal inside the Kremlin, raising an obvious question: does Vladimir Putin even know what his own system is saying?

This sudden shift, however, isn’t about regret or awakening. It’s about convenience and narrative control. Russian media didn’t discover conscience overnight; it simply redirected outrage outward. Dissent is praised only when it happens safely abroad, far from Moscow streets and riot police. The same propaganda machine that criminalizes protest at home suddenly celebrates it elsewhere, proving that values never changed, only the target did.

Russian diplomats took this performance to the global stage. At the United Nations, figures like Vasily Nebenzya delivered polished speeches condemning armed aggression, interference, and violations of international law. Maria Zakharova spoke about human tragedy and moral limits. The irony is staggering: these statements describe, almost word for word, the very behavior Russia normalized during its war in Ukraine. By loudly condemning others, the Kremlin attempts to cleanse its own record and reframe accusations, not abandon the practices themselves.

At home, the blame-shifting goes even further. State-endorsed exhibitions and media features recycle images of destroyed cities, damaged churches, and ruined infrastructure—often places hit by Russian forces—stripped of context and presented as evidence of someone else’s crimes. Remove timelines and responsibility, and destruction becomes a flexible accusation. This visual propaganda isn’t aimed at the outside world; it reinforces a closed narrative loop inside Russia, where questioning reality itself is dangerous.

The most revealing part is how propaganda now openly contradicts itself. Polished diplomats preach peace and legality, while aggressive TV personalities boast about leveling cities and using fear as a weapon. One side sanitizes, the other intimidates, but both serve the same system. Inconsistency isn’t a flaw—it’s a strategy designed to confuse, exhaust, and prevent accountability.

This moment will not age well. Every speech, broadcast, and exhibition is recorded, archived, and impossible to fully erase. When timelines are compared and words are matched with actions, this period will be remembered as a masterclass in reality inversion, propaganda, and Kremlin hypocrisy. Russian media condemning war while justifying it, praising dissent while crushing it, accusing others using evidence of their own actions—this isn’t reform. It’s delay. And history has a habit of catching up.