Russian State TV Says U.S. 'Hysterical' and Can't Stage 'Real Intervention'

Kremlin propagandists have said the U.S. is "hysterical" over Ukraine and lacks the power to really intervene in the war during a wide-ranging discussion which also referred to Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson and the 'Twitter files.'

The pundits on Bolshaya Igra (Big Game) broadcast on Russia's Channel One outlined how they believed the U.S. influence on the world was waning.

"The global balance of power has changed so much that the U.S. can't even stage a real intervention," said anchor Vyacheslav Nikonov, as he described how Washington's "hands are tied in Ukraine" and are "held back by their obligations in Taiwan," in reference to the U.S. ally which may face a threat from China.

One of the guests was convicted Russian spy Maria Butina who said it was "impossible" for the U.S. to hold on to their "hegemony" and that the world was becoming "multipolar."

"They don't understand that," she said, "that's the reason for their hysterical reaction to Ukraine."

"Watch when a person with a military rank is waving his hands like a female cook in a kitchen," Butina said, "better hope he doesn't accidentally strike anyone."

"These emotional outbursts only demonstrate their hysteria," she added in the discussion tweeted by Russian watcher and journalist Julia Davis.

Butina pleaded guilty in 2018 to conspiring to act as an unregistered foreign agent within the U.S. She was accused of trying to establish ties between Russia and the administration of former President Donald Trump.

The U.S. dealing with its alleged diminished place in the world was a continuing theme with another guest, economist Vasily Koltashev, saying Washington is "not fighting for the preservation of hegemony but for its return" and its wish to be a "global arbiter."

Twitter Files

Nikonov then segued into how Twitter had been at the center of a campaign that accused Russia of interfering in the U.S. electoral process. He threw to a clip in which Tucker Carlson asked journalist Matt Taibbi about the 'Twitter Files.'

Taibbi has said that top Democrats falsely claimed in 2018 that Russian actors on Twitter were elevating Republican talking points via bots despite Twitter executives saying there was no evidence for this.

Taibbi told the Fox News host in the clip aired by the Russian program how "people just lied" even when Twitter had "more or less conclusive proof that there were no Russians involved."

Also in the clip, Carlson said that five years later, the U.S. is "engaged in a hot war with Russia" as he asked "how much of this was designed.. to whip Americans into a frenzy about Russia?"

Back in the studio, Butina said that the accusations Russia faced in 2018 had precipitated sanctions against Moscow. "Not only do the sanctions have to be reversed but there should also be compensation for lost economic advantage," she said.

Davis tweeted how on Russian TV "propagandists bashed the US and discussed the release of the Twitter Files."

"Maria Butina argued that Russia should use this information and demand to be compensated by the U.S. for the economic losses caused by the sanctions," she added.