Russian-state funded news outlet Russia Today (RT) released an advertisement Dec. 24 showing the grim future of Christmases in Europe due to Western sanctions on Russia.
“State-funded news media RT is spewing anti-western propaganda advertising on its English TV commercial breaks,” journalist Sotiri Dimpinoudis tweeted about the 75-second ad. The Kremlin-funded outlet shows a family experiencing three successive Christmases in 2021, 2022, and 2023, all set to the soundtrack of “Silent Night.” (RELATED: US Imposes New Round Of Sanctions On Additional Russian Oligarchs And Elites)
#Russia[n state funded news media #RT is spewing anti-western propaganda advertising on it’s English TV commercial breaks, the ad video showing you #Europe celebrating 2023 Christmas and new years without lights and heating. pic.twitter.com/k2OD6YbSim
— Sotiri Dimpinoudis (@sotiridi) December 23, 2022
In 2021, the family gifts their daughter a hamster. In 2022, the family connects the hamster’s wheel to a generator to power their home. In 2023, the family is bundled up and eating soup. The father then pulls the hamster’s ribbon out of his mouth, and the mother tells him to be quiet so that their daughter doesn’t discover he ate her hamster.
“Merry ‘anti-Russian’ Christmas!” the ad closes. “If your media doesn’t tell you where this is all going, RT is available.”
The ad comes as the Russia-Ukraine war enters its tenth month on Christmas Eve. Several European counties have issued sanctions on Russian industries, including oil, which has contributed to rising energy costs across the continent.