It's rather pointless to try to find any factual information in a staged interview, but it's interesting to see Russian propaganda apply the same set of techniques they applied in case of #MH17: throw a dozen of contradictory and mutually exclusive versions, until nothing makes sense for their goodwill audience.
As there's lots of evidence to support the narrative that incriminates them, the most successful tactics is to flood the public space in Russia with so much chaff that the only thought that remains in the heads of loyal population is "we will never know all truth"...
In Russian: https://theins.ru/news/262500
P.S. meanwhile Russian forces have blown up another dam on Mokrye Yaly river south from Blagodatne, recently liberated by Ukraine...
Maybe the Kremlin has done some audience research and found that even their domestic audience isn’t naive enough to believe that Ukraine destroyed its own dam!
But Russia will still let the “Ukrainians destroyed the dam” theory circulate. After all, they are fine with people believing anything, so long as it doesn’t incriminate Russia.
The one thing that they won’t allow is discussion of the irrefutable evidence that Russia caused a massive explosion at the dam.
@chowderman
occupation-caused mismanagement of the dam's facilities leading to a catastrophic structural collapse does incriminate russia, though.
@kravietz
Mismanagement is a completely different moral category than intentionally blowing it up, and it kind of places blame on both sides “because everyone shelled the dam”. At the same time I don’t think the mismanagement theory withstands the check against all available evidence. Mismanagement and excessive accumulation of water could lead to gate failures or breaking through the ground barriers at the bank sides of the dam, but here it happened at the sturdiest point of the dam, and in two separate places at the same time!
@kravietz
@osma @chowderman
I don't think that is shifts the blame though. It's still a dam, not a child's toy — if you occupy it, be responsible!
When the first news arrived I have dismissed "the accident" version (UA attack was never even a version to me), but then I grew less skeptical to it because in addition to malice Russian management is known for sheer incompetence. They might have planned to destroy the dam — there is solid proof of that, but not now, not at this particular day.
That last version - an accidental early demolition - seems to be supported by a number of SBU intercepts. Russian soldiers discuss how a group of their engineers made final checks for blowing up the dam later that week in case of Ukrainian offensive from Kherson, but instead blew it up by accident, getting killed in the explosion. There was also another intercept where they discussed how Russian sappers didn’t correctly calculate the amount of explosives planted in the dam already in October last year.
As the dam was under constant surveillance from both sides, it would make sense for them to operate at night as they had to get in and out. But you’re right, SBU intercepts are not a very reliable evidence unless submitted to a court with detailed metadata and witness statements on the nature of their acquisition.
BTW I just recalled there was that rather mysterious video published by Russians where the dam is already breached and then some kind of anti-tank missile comes in and explodes on top of one of the concrete towers. Nobody seemed to be able to make any sense of it, so it was rather forgotten.
@kravietz @osma @chowderman
Well anyway, it's in the past now as US seems to have registered an explosion — that is proof I was waiting for. Zelensky's words alone weren't enough this time, sorry. Because I know quite well that as much as Russian military command is evil, it's also stupid.