On Tuesday’s 60 Minutes, host Popov shot down suggestions from pundits that Russia can quickly organize its own production of semiconductors. “One factory that produces semiconductors would cost us $20-30 billion… It’s quite clear that we can’t build them quickly. We have to look for them on foreign markets. It’s utopia for us to suggest we could be making them here,” Popov said.

Vladimir Avatkov, from the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, delivered a sunny—albeit an Orwellian—outlook: “In the non-Western world, they’re looking at us with hopeful anticipation. They’re waiting for the time when Russia can actively involve and attract others into its new security architecture.” Even seasoned a propagandist like Popov seemed aghast at the delusional forecast and snidely asked: “They’re waiting to join us, even though we have no Visa, Mastercard, iPhone, or McDonald’s?”…

In another state media venting session on Tuesday, senior member of the Communist Party Yuri Afonin delivered a grim forecast: “The West is ready to fight us until the end… How can we respond? Only with a sovereign economy, the rebuilding of our economy. Yes, there are some people—thankfully, there’s less and less of them—who keep hoping that everything will settle down, calm down and return to normal. They need to understand, that will never happen,” he said on Tuesday’s 60 Minutes.