Russian President Vladimir Putin has described Ukraine's unprecedented incursion into the Kursk region as a "provocation," an "attempt to destabilize" border regions, and an act of terrorism. He has avoided using a more eye-catching description: the first invasion of Russia by foreign troops since World War II.
And he has cast it as something that Russia will deal with effectively, even if it has not found a way to do so nearly a week into Kyiv's cross-border offensive.
The state-run, state-controlled, and state-influenced outlets that dominate Russian media have largely followed that line, often seemingly seeking to downplay the incursion and assure the domestic audience that it's no big deal -- and that, rather than a blow to Russia's war aims and an embarrassment for the Kremlin, it is bound to end up being a bad mistake on Ukraine's part.
"The border area of the territory of the Kursk region is littered with the corpses of Ukrainian fighters and has been transformed into a graveyard of burned-out enemy equipment," an August 12 article in the popular tabloid Argumenty i fakty said, adding that an "enormous number" of Ukrainian attackers had been killed "in just the last few hours."
The paper claimed that Ukraine had lost "nearly 2,000" soldiers during the operation, a number that is higher than some estimates of the size of Kyiv's force in the area. "And that is only according to officially documented kills," it added. "Who knows how many are still littering the forests, ravines, and roadside ditches?"
Argumenty i fakty's take on Ukraine's surprise August 6 incursion into Russia's Kursk region echoed other reports in the state-owned or Kremlin-controlled media in Russia, where independent reporting has been stifled -- even more than it had been previously -- since Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
'An Adequate Response'
Reports have focused on the purported failures of Ukraine's military, claiming broadly that Kyiv has invested enormous resources for minimal results. Some have suggested that the incursion will backfire, driving Russia to amplify its war aims.
Both the Kremlin and media outlets that take their cues from the Kremlin appeared uncertain about what to say about the incursion at first, but more recently seem to have settled on a message meant to portray calm and confidence.
"The enemy will, for sure, receive an adequate response, and all the goals we outlined will, no doubt, be reached," Putin said on August 12, adding that the "provocation" had not affected Russia's military operations inside Ukraine.
"It is impossible to destabilize us or sow panic," prominent and avidly anti-Ukrainian presenter Olga Skabeyeva said on Rossia-1, one of the main state TV channels. "On the contrary, they have enraged Russians, and everyone now is ready to take up a weapon and make it clear that you cannot deal with Russia in this way."
At the same time, some news reports are laced with notes of concern. Describing the military situation in the Kursk region, Skabeyeva used a word that can mean "complicated" or "difficult."
Some reports point to a search for scapegoats, with suggestions of blame often landing on a Chechen force in the region and on the chief of the military General Staff, General Valery Gerasimov, who many accuse of badly mismanaging the war against Ukraine.
The daily Nezavisimaya gazeta reported on August 12 that National Guard forces had repulsed "Ukrainian counterattacks" in the Kursk region. It also found something to like in foreign coverage of the incursion, citing the Associated Press as saying it would be difficult for Ukrainian forces to establish a foothold inside Russia because "their supply lines would be vulnerable to Russian fire."
The popular newspaper Moskovsky komsomolets (MK), controlled by the Moscow mayor's office, claimed the Ukrainian operation was so chaotic that it was difficult to say what Kyiv's forces are trying to achieve.
"Many of their actions seem senseless, as if the Ukrainians themselves do not understand their goals," the paper wrote.
MK's own message was mixed: "On the whole, the situation remains extremely difficult, but under control," it added.
An article in the newspaper Vzglyad on August 12 focused not on the battlefield but on the "information space," claiming without evidence that the Ukrainian security agencies had unleashed "numerous fake reports" in order "to sow panic among the people of the region."
One such "fake," the paper claimed, was a photograph purporting to show a "Ukrainian nationalist" standing next to a sign indicating he was just 10 kilometers from the city of Kursk, the regional capital. The paper said the photograph was taken at the border between the two countries and that a second "0" had been photoshopped out of it. Other "fakes" purportedly were trying to take advantage of "a certain lack of faith the population has toward officials -- a weak point of Russian society," according to an academic expert quoted by the paper.
West-Blaming
In an August 8 report citing unnamed industry sources, Meduza, an independent outlet now based outside Russia, said that the Kremlin had "instructed" state-run and pro-Kremlin media not to describe the incursion as a "new front" in the war or to mention the proximity of the fighting to the nuclear power plant in the Kursk region city of Kurchatov. Rather than focusing on the fighting, media were told to highlight human interest stories such as "blood-donation drives and campaigns to provide shelter to" displaced people, Meduza reported.
For example, the country's best-selling tabloid, Komsomolskaya pravda, published the dramatic story of a Kursk region monastery that supposedly came under Ukrainian fire in the initial phase of the operation under the headline "The Tanks Were Firing, But They Did Not Interrupt The Liturgy." The monastery's head managed to evacuate its "miracle-working icon" to the city of Kursk.
As there has been throughout Russia's invasion of Ukraine, there was a dose of West-blaming, with reports stating or implying that Western countries were goading or aiding Ukraine in its Kursk incursion. Commentator Aleksandr Kazakov told state-run Channel 1 television that "this is a London story."
"London is our worst enemy," Kazakov claimed. "They want the hostilities to continue until the last Ukrainian is dead."
Without citing evidence, Skabeyeva claimed that Ukraine was operating on Russian territory "with the full approval and coordination of the U.S. government and the American president."
Meanwhile, in an August 9 article billed as an "exclusive" look at the "Kremlin's battle plan," Moskovsky komsomolets seemed determined to assure readers that, even if they don't see a very powerful Russian response to the incursion yet, Putin knows what he's doing and will hit back hard when the time is right.
"Putin refuses to play by the rules set by his 'partners' in Ukraine," MK author Mikhail Rostovsky wrote. "Putin is being pushed to make immediate, dramatic statements and actions. Actions will be taken, but they will come at a moment that is convenient and beneficial to Russia and to the president, and not at the moment that suits the enemy."
"Pushing the Ukrainian military out of the Kursk region will be only part of his adequate response," the article concluded.
