A Russian state television reporter who was fired for a recent critique of Vladimir Putin says he is sorry for taking part in “propaganda madness” on behalf of the Kremlin.
Konstantin Goldenzweig told the independent news site Meduza he is “truly ashamed of what I have been doing for the last year and a half,” The Telegraph reported Tuesday.
“Eventually a firm conviction appeared that I was doing something that was not right. It was not just a question of conscience. It’s simply that you were trained for one trade — journalism — and you find yourself at times doing something completely different,” said Mr. Goldenzweig, who was recently fired by NTV channel. “And you realize that the longer you do this rubbish, the harder it will be to get out of this rut.”
The reporter said he was told to say that gay rights activists were part of a “dirty campaign against the tzar-daddy” and that German Chancellor Angela Merkel was controlled by the U.S., the newspaper reported.
Mr. Goldenzweig was fired for saying it was in the Kremlin’s interest to foment unrest in Ukraine for an extended amount of time, and that Mr. Putin’s cynicism was “well-known,” The Telegraph reported.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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