Now Putin's government is somehow mad at Friends

The biggest differences between Russia and the US can apparently be seen in the 1994 sitcom Friends, according to head of Russian state Margarita Simonyan.

While speaking to viewers of Channel 1, Simonyan explained to viewers why it was important to believe in their war against Ukraine and fight against Western ideology.

In a video translated by Anton Gerashchenko, the propagandist explained that she noticed "ultra-liberal borscht" in the US while studying 30 years ago.

"30 years ago, when I myself studied in the States, it seemed we are so similar," Simonyan, 42, said. "It was just beginning then- the very first gurgles of now already boiling ultra-liberal borscht- they were so small then it was hard to notice them."

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She went on to explain she first noticed it in Friends.

"You had to had to have very good eyesight to notice it in the 1994 TV series Friends, for example. Which is still probably the most popular American TV series of all time, such as the personification of American culture."

Using the pilot episode as an example of Western "propaganda", Simonyan says the show makes viewers "sympathize" with Ross Gellar's ex-wife Carol after she leaves Ross for her lesbian lover.

"It was impossible to notice frenzied propaganda in this, because it was so rare, so fresh, so interesting," Simonyan said. "And now we have what we have and we will not jump over this [gulf]."

Simonyan's speech is part of Putin's government's efforts to push a pro-Russia mindset onto citizens as they continue to fight Ukraine.

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