DISINFO: Zelenskyy tries to seize power by force to please foreign sponsors
SUMMARY
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is trying to seize power by force in order to satisfy the wishes of foreign sponsors as soon as possible. To this end, Zelenskyy is closing TV channels and persecuting opposition parties.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring propaganda narrative from pro-Kremlin media outlets, claiming that the West has ordered Ukraine to suppress political dissent and close opposition TV channels and that Ukrainian authorities act at the nod of foreign countries with the sole aim to please the alleged Western sponsors and cater for their needs.
In reality, Ukraine’s Western partners have not ordered it to suppress the freedom of expression and persecute opposition. Moreover, the EU expressed concern when three TV channels -- 112 Ukraina, ZIK and NewsOne -- were taken off the air on 2 February 2021. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in a statement that "any measures taken should be proportional to the aim" and that Brussels would be in touch with Ukrainian authorities to receive more information on the issue.
These channels were airing oppositional pro-Kremlin views, but they were banned not because of their pro-Kremlin propensity, but because of “indisputable evidence and proof that these TV channels have long been financed by the aggressor state”, a phrase often used in Ukraine in reference to Russia. Their owner Taras Kozak is a close ally of Ukrainian pro-Kremlin politician Viktor Medvedchuk, leader of the Oppositional Platform for Life. Medvedchuk is very close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is the godfather of Medvedchuk's daughter, and is considered by many to be an agent of influence in Ukraine.
The West strongly supports Ukraine’s democracy and its anti-corruption reforms since the Revolution of Dignity (Euromaidan) in 2014 when people overthrew the then pro-Kremlin president, Viktor Yanukovych, who later fled to Russia.
Read more disinformation stories alleging that the West hails Zelenskyy’s attempts to eliminate opposition in Ukraine, that political opposition is ruthlessly suppressed in Ukraine and that the West needs Ukrainian land and slaves.