USA starts trolling Putin officially

US-based television channel CNBC continues producing sensational news about Russia. A few days ago, this television channel found a Russian nuclear cruise missile on the bottom of the Barents Sea. The news has worked very well - even the Kremlin paid attention to it.

Now the channel has produced another sensation. According to CNBC, the US State Department is running a trolling campaign against Russian President Putin. The campaign, the channel said, is conducted as part of the efforts of the United States to counter the Russian aggression.

It seems problematic to find a direct analogy to the concept of "trolling" in ordinary life. In general, this is a form of provocation and bullying in online communication.

Thus, according to CNBC, the US State Department established a position of "senior advisor for Russian malign activities and trends." The acronym for the new position appeared immediately - SARMAT. This word coincides with the name of Russia's state-of-the-art missile system Sarmat, about which Vladimir Putin spoke in his Address to the Federal Assembly in March of this year. Just in case, Sarmat can overcome any anti-missile defence system in the world and has a limitless range.

Russia created Sarmat missiles long before Putin's speech. Nevertheless, the State Department decided that it would be a good option for trolling. At least, CNBC says so.

The channel refers to US Assistant Secretary of State Wess Mitchell, who allegedly reported the above-mentioned news during a hearing in the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. The US official clarified that the title of the new position and the name of the Russian missile was not a mere coincidence. CNBC concluded that the US State Department was trolling Putin.

However, American experts, whom CNBC interviewed, took the news with a grain of salt. Political scientist Stephen Sestanovich suggested that the news could be a form of prank in the spirit of British comedian Sasha Baron Cohen. Former Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul could not find what to say, but noted that the information was "curious."

In general, one can see that the above is another element of the information war. They firmly believe in the West that Putin is a master of trolling himself. If Putin criticises the USA, it means that he is trolling US officials. If Putin goes to Austria for a wedding party, he is trolling the USA too. Now, as it appears, the Americans have weaponised the tool that they have ascribed to Putin themselves.

Anton Kulikov
Pravda.Ru

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