That is an amazing scene, specially because it confronts our expectations and prejudices about how we should behave in a crisis.

He must be harassed and scolded for not telling the truth, that whichever might have pleased the central committee.

If he tells the truth, he can climb positions in the social ladder. If he says inconvenient truths, he must be removed ASAP, because he could widespread misinformation that the enemies of the communism might explorer exploit in their crusade against a worker's state.

It is hitherto of the outmost importance to maintain certain discipline and punish betrayals, because the USSR is in a cold war against the other productive system, whose media enterprises will exploit the socialist weaknesses or mistakes to justify their superiority. And, furthermore, atomic bombs could start raining anywhere in the world at any given moment