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By Isabel van Brugen
News Reporter
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A guest on Russian state TV was angrily shut down after he argued that the West is more powerful than Russia, and that Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine should be put to an end before it is too late.
Two guests spoke highly of Western capabilities during an episode of current affairs show Mesto Vstrechi (Meeting Place) on the NTV channel, which discussed the latest situation in Ukraine. A five-minute clip of the broadcast was shared on Twitter by Julia Davis, founder of the Russian Media Monitor watchdog group, late on Tuesday.
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It is rare for guests on state TV to speak critically of Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which began last February, or cast doubts on Russia's prospects in the conflict.
"Meanwhile in Russia: sane voices who say that Putin's military adventure should be put to an end ASAP are contradicted by rabid propagandists who allege that both the military might and the unity of the Western countries exist only on paper," Davis tweeted as a caption.
In the episode, state TV host Andrey Norkin began by noting that Ukraine and Russia provide conflicting accounts on the amount of ammunition each side has left.
Former State Duma deputy Boris Nadezhdin interjected by saying that "when a war is underway, you can't believe anyone," before outlining how the West is more powerful than Russia.
"Here is one thing that I know for a fact: the U.S. military budget for the next year is $800 billion. The Russian budget, not just military but overall, is a lot less. It's about $500 billion," the former deputy said.
"One more number, because it's important to understand the capability for an increase, Boeing produces up to 1,000 planes every year. [Russian Prime Minister Mikhail] Mishustin said that we may be able to make 100 planes every year," said Nadezhdin.
"The capabilities of the American industry, if it expands according to these insane sums of money that are being allotted for the Pentagon, are significantly greater than ours."
Nadezhdin told his fellow guests that trying to compete against the "united West" whose capabilities are "10 times more than ours, in terms of the economy, demographics, etc," is "simply unfathomable."
Norkin asked Nadezhdin to give somebody else a chance to speak. "He's proposing for us to surrender!" he said.
Nadezhdin fired back: "I'm proposing that we can put an end to this adventure."
Another guest on the TV show, political analyst Viktor Olevich, said it's "obvious" and "undeniable" that the West has "bigger capabilities" than Russia.
"It's also obvious that the West, having acquired the means to cause constant, ongoing damage to Russia, will not abandon this opportunity, especially since it costs the West much less than the costs for Russia to keep going like this. Yes, Russia has a lot of strength, Russia can keep fighting for years, solely in terms of its military capabilities, not the political factors, which may change," he said.
The West is "much more resilient" than Russia, Olevich continued.
"They understand this very well. In Russia, they also understand it would indeed be advantageous for Russia to come out of this conflict at some point before the West delivers us a crushing blow."
A visibly angry guest attempted to shut Olevich down over his remarks.
"Everything Viktor said exists only in virtual reality," said Alexander Kazakov, a State Duma member. "These numbers, these parameters, presented by some organizations that we don't trust. And now let's return to Earth."
Kazakov added: "The West is ready to fight for years? The West isn't ready to fight at all. Regarding all of these calculations, yes, if you take scenarios with incorrect calculations, then maybe so."
Newsweek has reached out to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment via email.
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