Photo via @atrupar/Twitter
June 16, 2021, 1:02 pm
ABC News reporter Rachel Scott has been officially branded as a total badass for standing in front of Russian President Vladimir Putin and pointing out the fact that so many of his political opponents end up either imprisoned or dead and asking him why he’s afraid of a real political fight. During a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland following Putin’s meeting with President Joe Biden, congressional correspondent Scott was chosen to ask a question and took her chance to bring up what everyone’s been thinking.
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“The list of your political opponents who are dead, imprisoned, or jailed is long,” said Scott. “Alexey Navalny’s organization called for free and fair elections and an end to corruption, but Russia has outlawed that organization, calling it ‘extremist,’ and you have now prevented anyone who supports him to run for office. So, my question, Mr. President, is what are you so afraid of?”
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Putin responded to this with a lot of hesitant rambling and complaining about already answering the question (allegedly) before talking about stuff that’s happened in the U.S., bring up the Black Lives Matter and the murder of George Floyd without actually addressing the specific problem Scott was asking him about.
“We feel sympathy for the United States of America, but we do not want that to happen on our territory and we are doing our utmost to not allow it to happen,” said Putin. “‘Fears’ has nothing to do with anything.”
Scott, undeterred, accused Putin of dodging the question and pressed him yet further.
“If all of your political opponents are dead, in prison or poisoned, doesn’t that send a message that you do not want a fair political fight?” she asked.
Putin again engaged in whataboutism rather than answering.
“On the question of who is murdering whom, people rioted and went into the Congress in the U.S. with political demands, and many people were declared as criminals and they are threatened with imprisonment for 20 to 25 years,” he said. “These people were immediately arrested after those events. On what grounds we don’t know always.”
We do, actually, and none of them were immediately arrested.
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Putin ultimately characterized his talks with Biden as “constructive,” with the U.S. president saying that “I did what I came to do.” Some criticized Biden for refusing to again call Putin a “killer” during another press conference after doing so in March, but those doing so from the right were reminded of how they supported Trump’s extremely friendly relationship with the Russian dictator.
Aside from those folks, and of course Putin himself, everyone is now a fan of Scott, with people calling her brave for challenging a man with a solid reputation for having the people who threaten his power killed.
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*First Published: June 16, 2021, 1:02 pm
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