Putin finds support from newspapers and pundits in Venezuela and China

It's not just Russian state media putting a positive spin on the invasion of Ukraine.

While the headlines in the United States, Britain, and Canada point out the brutality of Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion, it's a different story in countries that are friendly with Putin, including Venezuela and China.

In Venezuela, pundit Alberto Aranguibel referred to the Feb. 24 invasion as "la guerra necesaria," or "the necessary war," The Guardian reports, and he called Putin the victim of "the most brutal and intense demonization campaign ever seen." In fact, he continued, it is "perhaps only comparable to the one that's been waged against [Venezuelan] President Nicolás Maduro for at least a decade."

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In China, academic Wang Shuo wrote in the state-run Global Times that the conflict is actually not Putin's fault, but rather America's. This is a "U.S.-created crisis," he wrote, adding that "the strategic selfishness of the U.S. has brought more disasters to the world."

He's not the only one pointing the finger at the U.S. and its allies — North Korea's state-run KCNA news agency quoted a foreign ministry official as saying the "root cause of the Ukraine crisis totally lies in the hegemonic policy of the U.S. and the West, which enforce themselves in high-handedness and abuse of power against other countries."

Last week, Russia's parliament passed a law that imposes a jail term of up to 15 years for anyone who intentionally spreads "fake news" about the military. Because of this, several international journalists have been pulled out of Russia, over fears that they will be arrested for their reporting.