DISINFO: West hails Zelenskyy’s attempts to eliminate opposition
SUMMARY
The West supports Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s attempts to eliminate the opposition. Zelenskyy might succeed in liquidating the Opposition Platform for Life and Anatoly Shariy’s Party.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring disinformation narrative by pro-Kremlin media about the West’s purported attempts to interfere in Ukrainian politics and set the political establishment there against Russia.
These two parties have a certain pro-Kremlin propensity, so affiliated politicians and media outlets are trying to portray Zelenskyy as a blatant Russophobe, whom the West ordered to wipe out everything Russian in Ukraine.
In reality, neither pro-Kremlin parties nor politicians nor media are persecuted in Ukraine as long as they obey the law. Three Ukrainian TV channels – 112 Ukraine, ZIK and NewsOne – were taken off the air on 2 February 2021 because economic sanctions were imposed on their owner Taras Kozak. According to the Ukrainian government and president these channels were supposedly financed from the separatist region of Donbas in Eastern Ukraine and from Russia.
One of the leaders of the Opposition Platform for Life, Viktor Medvedchuk, is a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Russian leader is also the godfather of Medvedchuk’s daughter. Medvedchuk often visits Russia and is considered by many observers to be including Kremlin's views in his own policies in Ukraine.
Anatoly Shariy is an opposition blogger who is residing in Spain. Living abroad, he created a pro-Kremlin political party in Ukraine and called it after his name (Shariy’s Party). However, it showed a modest result in last year’s local elections. In February 2021, Ukraine’s security service (SBU) declared that Shariy is suspected of committing high treason.
Read more pro-Kremlin disinformation claims portraying Ukraine as a country devoid of its own policy and completely dependent on the West.