DISINFO: The US is investigating Ukraine’s intervention in the 2020 US Presidential elections
SUMMARY
US prosecutors are investigating Ukraine’s interference in the US presidential elections through Rudolph Giuliani, the personal attorney of the then President of the US. According to reports, Giuliani met and cooperated with several Ukrainian officials with the aim of spreading false narratives about then presidential candidate Joe Biden.
RESPONSE
This case showcases recurrent attempts by pro-Kremlin outlets to deny and obscure the Kremlin’s meddling in the 2016 and 2020 US Presidential elections by shifting the blame to Ukraine through a misrepresentation of events.
This specific article cites a recent article (published on May 27, 2021) by a well-known US outlet revealing that there is an ongoing federal investigation into whether several current and former Ukrainian officials were involved in election meddling in 2020 by deliberately spreading false narratives.
The prime suspect in the investigation is the businessman and Ukrainian MP Andriy Derkach, who the US Treasury Department considers to be “an active Russian agent for over a decade” due to “his efforts to influence the 2020 U.S. presidential election”. According to US intelligence agencies, Derkach “penetrated the former president’s inner circle” and propagated pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about a corrupt connection between Biden and Ukraine. His aim was to give rise to official investigations in both Ukraine and the US that would undermine Biden’s presidential campaign. Notably, Derkach met with Rudy Giuliani, the personal attorney of then President of the US Donald Trump, in December 2019 as part of an intelligence operation. The US intelligence community had warned the then US President that Russian intelligence agents, including Derkach, were using his personal lawyer to spread disinformation aimed at subverting the presidential campaign of Joe Biden. In other words, Derkach is being investigated for acting on behalf of Kremlin, and not the Ukrainian government, as the pro-Kremlin outlet implies.
Similar cases of disinformation in the database claimed that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 US presidential elections, that EU countries, not Russia, interfered in US-elections 2016 and 2020, that “Ukrainegate” gains momentum in the US, and that there is no proof that Russia intervened in the US presidential elections in 2016.