[LINK] "A Putin Crony's Unrequited Love for Europe"

[rfmcdonald]

Bloomberg View's Leonid Bershidsky notes the upset of Russian oligarchs and other regime figures faced with sanctions preventing their entry into the European Union.

Dmitry Kiselyov, the public face of President Vladimir Putin's propaganda machine and one of the regime's top functionaries, is suing the European Union for subjecting him to a travel ban and asset freeze on the grounds that he backed Russia's military intervention in Ukraine.

The case provides an interesting insight into the psychology of Putin's acolytes, who have long viewed Western Europe as their playground. Now, they refuse to believe they have been cast out.

Quicktake Financial War

Kiselyov is head of the state-owned information agency Russia Today. When he took over in December 2013, he told employees: "Often, under the slogan of objectivity, we distort the concept: We look at our country as if it were somebody else's. I think this period of 'distilled' journalism is over." He puts those precepts into practice every Sunday night, as the anchor of "Vesti Nedeli," one of the 10 most popular Russian TV shows. His program is a relentless stream of anti-Western invective, delivered with a mixture of anger, sarcasm and exaggerated patriotism. The effect on the viewer is akin to being under heavy artillery fire.

Kiselyov was added to the EU sanctions list on March 21, 2014, as a "central figure of the government propaganda supporting the deployment of Russian forces in Ukraine." On Monday, the EU's official journal published details of his lawsuit against the EU Council, filed May 22, 2015. It says he "never expressed support 'for the deployment of Russian forces in Ukraine' as the Council claims."

That denial can be contested with a YouTube search.