Smile.

Russian state television DEFIES President Putin's propaganda edict and broadcasts criticism of the war in Ukraine - with guests describing the shambolic invasion as 'like Afghanistan, but even WORSE'.

Putin's war on freedom of expression in Russia appeared to be fraying at the edges on Thursday after guests on Kremlin-backed TV defied Moscow and openly criticised the brutal war in Ukraine, calling the invasion 'even worse than Afghanistan' (right). Guests have refused to support the narrative pushed through by television hosts on Putin's request that Russia has been conducting a 'special operation' to 'demilitarise' and 'de-Nazify' Ukraine - claims dismissed as baseless pretexts by Kyiv and her partners in the West. One who appeared on one of Russia 1's prime time talk show rebelled by referring to the USSR's disastrous invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 which ended in withdrawal ten years later. Historians argue that Moscow's failure in Afghanistan, in which thousands of Red Army troops were killed, fuelled disillusionment among millions of people in the Soviet Union and ultimately helped to bring about the collapse of the 'Evil Empire' into a heap of rust. Mail.