How Will Putin Manage the Metrojet Plane Crash?
State-controlled television has repeatedly demonstrated its extraordinary capacity to shape Russian public opinion in a way the Kremlin needs. The coverage of the Malaysian airliner downed over Ukraine was a perfect example. Evidence presented by a wide range of foreign sources was enough to convince the world that pro-Russia insurgents had downed the plane, but in Russia just two or three per cent of the public thought so, while the overwhelming majority laid responsibility on Ukraine.