FAKE NEWS: Zelensky is selling his country to American multinational corporations
President Volodymyr Zelensky is selling his country to American multinational corporations, Ukraine is being turned into a colony of the West, and Russia will be wrongfully driven out of its traditional sphere of historic influence. The Russian media has been promoting these narratives, starting from an interview Yulia Svyrydenko, the Deputy Head of the Ukrainian President’s Office, gave to the “Atlantic Council”. Her statements are taken out of context.
NEWS: “We would like to continue developing cooperation in the fields of agriculture, nuclear and renewable energy and aerospace. We are trying to increase the volume of two-way trade and attract American investors and technologies to Ukraine”, Yulia Svydyrenko said, as if she weren’t aware that all the objectives she listed are actually tantamount to wholesaling the country to American multinational corporations […]
As regards the conflict in Donbass, it is obvious that Ukrainian high-ranking officials are contradicting themselves. One day before the statement of the Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Presidency, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the access of US representatives to the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine was not on the group’s agenda.
It is equally obvious that Kiev isn’t the least bothered by something as “trivial” as getting the consent for changing the negotiations format from the Russian Federation, the other party involved in the conflict, nor by the fact that the United States is better off not getting directly involved in prolonged, unsuccessful and inglorious negotiations, preferring instead to let the reputation of its diplomats in Ukraine take the hit.
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As a survey conducted in December by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KMIS), a minority of the population (42%) wants the country to join NATO, despite the long-lasting propaganda to push Ukraine into joining this organization. The overwhelming majority of people opposing Ukraine’s NATO accession are clustered in the southern and eastern parts of the country, which means these are people who voted for Zelensky and the “Servant of the People” Party.
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In its 30th year of independence, the country has become a protectorate of the United States, its leaders bent on doing the US’s bidding not just in international institutions, but back home as well”.
NARRATIVES: 1. Ukraine is being turned into an American colony. 2. President Zelensky is selling his country to American multinational corporations. 3. Ukraine is an artificial state. 4. The majority of Ukrainians doesn’t back NATO accession. 5. Russia should have a say when it comes to ex-Soviet space, including Ukraine.
BACKGROUND: After Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula and the outbreak of hostilities in Donbass, Ukraine adopted a series of measures to consolidate its defense and security capabilities. In 2019, the Parliament in Kiev introduced a number of amendments to the Constitution, making European and Euro-Atlantic integration a top foreign policy priority. Pro-EU and pro-NATO discourse in Ukraine has been constantly derided by Russian media, which has been spreading propaganda, disinformation and fake news to discourage Kiev from getting closer to the West, especially by undermining NATO and the United States in the Ukrainian public sphere. More often than not, Russia is using a metanarrative, according to which Ukraine will become an American or European colony, and supporting Euro-Atlantic aspirations is a political illusion used to manipulate society, not a post-Euromaidan reality. Worth noting is that demonstrators who took part in the 2013-2014 Euromaidan protests in Kiev called for signing the Association Agreement with the EU and NATO membership, which fleeing president Viktor Yanukovych refused to do. Pro-Western attitudes have become a mainstay of Ukrainian society starting 2014.
PURPOSE: The purpose of these narratives is to distort the image of NATO in the eyes of the Ukrainian people and in ex-Soviet states. Adopting NATO standards is viewed as turning Ukraine into an American colony, while consolidating economic cooperation is tantamount to letting the country be colonized by large corporations. These narratives are designed to discourage progress towards Euro-Atlantic integration, make Washington the target of a media smear campaign and belittle the findings of sociological studies, which indicate an increase in pro-European and pro-NATO sentiment in Ukraine.
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: In an interview to the “Atlantic Council”, Yulia Svydyrenko, the Deputy Head of the Ukrainian President’s Office spoke separately about relations with NATO and relations with the United States. The Russia press, however, presented her arguments side by side. Sociological surveys in Ukraine were misquoted, claiming “a minority of the population (42%) wants the country to join NATO, despite the long-lasting propaganda to push Ukraine into joining this organization”. In fact, according to the survey, 42% of Ukrainians want their country to join NATO, 37.1% say Ukraine should remain neutral, while only 13% are in favor of their country becoming part of the security system coordinated by Russia (see the results of the survey here). Therefore, anti-NATO attitudes, not pro-NATO ones, represent the minority.
The Russian media also refers to the propaganda of Ukrainian authorities favoring NATO accession, yet makes no mention of the 50-year-old Soviet propaganda against the Alliance, indoctrinating whole generations of the USSR in the spirit of the “struggle of the working class against American imperialism and NATO”. In fact, the Russian press is merely redressing Soviet propaganda targeting “global colonialists”.
With respect to Ukraine’s proposal to bring in American officials on negotiations over the developments in Donbass, Russian journalists say Russia should be consulted first, referencing an older narrative on Moscow’s historic right to keep its “foreign vicinity” in check.
Moreover, the authors of the fake news seem to forget that, according to the Kremlin’s official policy, Russia is not involved in the conflict in Donbass and is merely witnessing the developments with concern, without, however, providing any support.
