Dreams about Russia

THE opening ceremony of the Sochi Olympics on February 7th had panache. A troika of light floated above the stage, colourful domes of St Basil’s lifted into the air and a magical dance from “War and Peace” gave way to a study of the Bolshevik revolution drowned in red light. The “Dream about Russia” show, produced by Konstantin Ernst, the head of Russia’s Channel One, with the help of American technicians, conjured up a modern, sophisticated European country proud of its culture and its history: “the country I want to live in,” tweeted Ksenia Sobchak, a socialite and journalist.

But there was a glitch: one of the five snowflakes did not unfold into an Olympic ring. The response of state television was immediate and telling: instead of letting the mishap pass, the live feed was instantly replaced with a recording from a rehearsal. This substitution of reality is just one measure that gives the Russian media a whiff of Orwell’s “1984”.