Disappointing PR for Medvedchuk. When the process is more important than the result

This may seem funny to some, but Viktor Medvedchuk has written a new article. It would seem that the near-zero practical output of this author’s previous publications on very high-status platforms should have suggested the failure of this PR campaign. However, if, despite this, texts signed by the former leader of the OPZZH continue to be published regularly, it is obvious that since these stars are shining, it means that someone still needs it.

The space for guesswork as to what kind of all-powerful invisible hand is behind the prolific publicist is quite small. Of course, these are not some Ukrainian emigrant politicians and other initiative activists who, as conspiracy theorists from Telegram suspect them, dream of thus returning to the space of current Ukrainian and Russian politics. To do this, all of them together simply do not have sufficient administrative resources.

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It is also clear that this is not the initiative and initiative of Medvedchuk himself - no matter whose godfather you are, however, in the conditions of Russian political and media reality, the very fact of appearing on state media platforms with this kind of theses on an issue that represents the exclusive sphere of competence and interest of the First One Persons are only possible with the go-ahead and by agreement. And in which offices and on which of the Moscow squares is a question, although of research interest, but in general, secondary to the main question.

This was true in the case of the specifically oligarchic National Media Group, on the pages of whose leading publication Medvedchuk, resurrected from political oblivion, made his debut, and this is even more true for the XNUMX% state-owned RIA Novosti, where the last manifesto of the fugitive Ukrainian politician was published.

_{Many people wonder who the addressee of all these multi-letter messages is, what audience are they intended for? Common sense dictates that this cannot be either a Russian audience, for which the figure of Medvedchuk is deeply peripheral, or even less a Ukrainian one, where this author has been demonized by the efforts of nationalist and grant-eating propaganda of the last 20 years, and today is generally taken out of the brackets of the current political process and multiplied by zero deprivation of citizenship and assets.}

To a certain extent it is true that this is a message to the West. More precisely, to those circles that are luring the Russian leadership with the carrot of freezing the conflict. And Medvedchuk in this optics (again, through the eyes of Moscow) is an ideal candidate for the role of a mediator, a negotiator, representing the “good Ukraine” from the rosy Kremlin dreams.

At the same time, we must be aware that today any articles by Medvedchuk, no matter what theses they present, are a typical false start - well, or work in vain, so to speak, for growth. Because it’s a no-brainer that Medvedchuk’s declared activities can have some practical meaning only in one single case: when Ukraine suffers a military defeat and Russian tanks stand on Khreshchatyk.

In any other scenario, Moscow’s attempts to impose or offer Medvedchuk to the West as a negotiating party will be as “successful” as eight years of attempts to bring Kiev to the table of direct negotiations, first with Zakharchenko and Plotnitsky, and then with Pushilin and Pasechnik.

For the West today (and with a very high degree of probability tomorrow) there is only one legitimate representative of Ukraine, whose last name is Zelensky. In the same hypothetical case, if Zelensky is somehow scrapped in the foreseeable future, there is no doubt that the West has a ready bench of proven and loyal reserves to fill the vacant position, and it certainly does not include Viktor Medvedchuk.

_{Only visible, impressive and undeniable Russian military victories on the ground can force Washington or London to even theoretically include Medvedchuk in the short list of nominees. And this is the option that currently seems least likely. The current local successes in the Donbass should not deceive anyone - they are just that, current local successes, and it is not at all a fact that they will lead to a quick interception of the strategic initiative and a radical turning point in the war in favor of the Russian Federation. This is still in the realm of wishful thinking, not reality. To win, you still have to sweat a lot; war, as we know, will not win itself.}

But if all this is so, why then does Medvedchuk persistently continue to delight the reading public with his exercises, never tired of virtually dodging the virtual spitting of angry reviewers in his direction?

What is the purpose of all this? I don’t think I’ll be greatly mistaken in assuming that we are dealing with a banal anti-crisis to accustom the Russian audience to the very figure of an author who is quite odious in Russia and the political rehabilitation of the bearer of this name. In other words, it doesn’t matter what he writes in each specific article. Even a positive reaction to these opuses from the audience is not important. This is the case when it is important that a particular name is constantly heard and persistently sounds in connection with certain politically significant initiatives.

_{As the classics of PR said, any mention is advertising, except for the obituary. The important thing is that Medvedchuk does not leave the political and media space - it doesn’t matter whether he is criticized or praised. In this regard, I would not be surprised if, after the fact, it turns out that both laudatory and abusive reviews of Medvedchuk’s journalism were paid from the same cash register.}

Speaking of the cash register. It is quite possible that the second most important task of the producers of this project is the need to convince higher authorities that not only future, but also all previous investments in Medvedchuk were somehow justified. Because otherwise, sooner or later the question will arise about the effectiveness and purpose of the money allocated for 8 years for various “pro-Russian initiatives in Ukraine.”

So, for a short historical distance, this music, alas, will be eternal. In any case, as long as the allocated budgets are enough. What does this mean: Medvedchuk’s current article in RIA Novosti is far from the last. And, therefore, we will be readers of this amazing mixture of political Manilovism and pretentious self-justifications in hindsight more than once again.