Russian state media is gleefully reviving its hatred for Biden's new press secretary Jen Psaki, whom they ruthlessly mocked for a series of slip-ups during the Obama administration

US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki speaks at the daily briefing at the State Department in Washington,dc on March 10, 2014. Washington called on Russia to prove that it was willing to act on a series of US proposals aimed at ending the crisis over Ukraine. US Secretary of State John Kerry had laid out a number of ideas to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov and is prepared to take part in further talks "if and when we see concrete evidence that Russia is prepared to engage on these proposals," Psaki said. AFP PHOTO/Nicholas KAMM (Photo by Nicholas KAMM / AFP) (Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images) — Jennifer Psaki seen in her role as a State Department spokeswoman in 2014.
NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images

Russian state media is renewing its disdain for President-elect Joe Biden's new White House press secretary Jennifer Psaki.
While serving as a spokeswoman for the Obama White House and State Department between 2014 and 2016, Psaki heavily criticized Russia's conduct in Ukraine and Syria.
She also made a series of minor but embarrassing slip-ups and misnomers at the time, prompting Russian media to scrutinize and mock her heavily.
One major broadcaster launched a comedy show called "Psaki at Night," and a famous news presenter coined the term "Psaking" to mean ignorance.
Last week, a Russian politician said it was "alarming" that Biden would hire Psaki, and a prominent state TV host called her a "a professional woman with a sense of humor, who, however, did not always understand that she was joking."
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Russian politicians and state media are renewing their attacks on Jennifer Psaki, President-elect Joe Biden's new White House press secretary, who was ruthlessly mocked for a series of gaffes during the Obama administration.

Psaki, part of the all-woman communications team announced by Biden on November 29, was former President Barack Obama's communications director from 2009 to 2011 and press secretary between 2015 to 2016. In the intervening years she was also a State Department spokesperson.

But Psaki's attacks on the Kremlin over its 2014 incursion into Ukraine and Crimea and war in Syria - and a series of embarrassing slip-ups and misnomers made alongside them - made her famous across Russia.

"We are looking forward to Jen's return," Vladimir Solovyev, a prominent TV host on Russia 1, said on November 30. "Psaki is a professional woman with a sense of humor, who, however, did not always understand that she was joking."

Elena Panina, a politician sitting on the parliamentary International Affairs Committee, told RIA Novosti news agency on December 1 that it was "naturally alarming" that Psaki could "occupy high government posts in a nuclear superpower."

psaki Dmitry Kiselyov — A still from a Russia 1 news segment showing TV host Dmitry Kiselyov introducing a story about Jennifer Psaki in February 2015.
YouTube/Russia1

During the latter half of Obama's second term, Psaki was a national joke on Russian state TV and social media.

In May 2014, Dmitry Kiselyov - one of Russia's most well-known Kremlin-linked news presenters - popularized the term "Psaking" to mean exposing ignorance.

Psaki, then a State Department spokesperson, had been caught using a phrase she didn't understand in a press conference. Psaki, who said "carousel voting" was evident in Ukraine, said she didn't know what it meant when pressed to explain by a journalist.

"People say Psaking when someone makes a dogmatic statement about something they don't understand, mixes facts up, and then doesn't apologize," Kiselyov said on his show on Russia 1 at the time.

Shortly after, Russian state media outlet RT ran a story headlined: "State Dept.'s Psaki can't explain her beef with Ukraine" and later published a blooper reel of Psaki's slip-ups and mistakes.

Psaki "seems to be reporters' favorite spokesperson to laugh at," RT said.

In January 2015, NTV, a major Russian broadcaster, launched a daily sketch show called "Psaki at Night" in which host Mikhail Gendelev mocked Western diplomats and officials while sitting in front of a portrait of Psaki.

After Biden announced Psaki would be joining his White House last week, Kiselyov used his TV show to bring up the time that Psaki mistakenly said that gas flows into Russia from western Europe, The Moscow Times reported.

Kiselyov also said Psaki would have sent the US Navy to challenge Russia in Belarus if she had the power.

Psaki addressed the historic trolling and abuse in a December 1 tweet following her announcement as press secretary.

"For anyone who hasn't been the target of Russian propaganda ... the purpose is to discredit powerful messengers and to spread misinformation to confuse the public," she wrote, tagging former US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul and 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

"Anyone who repeats it is (unwitting or not) simply a puppet of the propaganda machine," she added.

—Jen Psaki (@jrpsaki) December 1, 2020

Minyon Moore, a member of Biden's transition advisory board, told The Washington Post that Psaki was an experienced operator who people could trust.

"When she steps to that mic, she brings not only a sense of gravitas, but fact, transparency, and honesty. And even a sense of comfort," she said.

Criticism of Psaki's appointment has also come from inside the US, and mainly from the Trump camp.

On November 30, Matt Wolking, a deputy communications director for the Trump campaign, sought to mock Psaki by tweeting a 2014 image of her wearing a pink furry hat with a hammer and sickle badge on the front, while posing for a photo with Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister.