In Kyiv to participate in the 12th annual Kyiv Security Forum, I sense considerable anticipation ahead of next Sunday’s second round of Ukraine’s presidential election. By the evening of April 21, we should know whether Volodomyr Zelenskiy will replace Petro Poroshenko as president, or whether the incumbent will manage to stay in office by...
Tag: propaganda
Russian News Monitor: March 25-31, 2019
This is a regular weekly report by Detector Media, a partner of the Ukrainian Election Task Force, offering exclusive content covering the three main Russian state TV talk shows, particularly these shows’ coverage of Ukraine and the 2019 presidential election. Kremlin-backed media outlets often generate disinformation narratives that are then spread throughout Ukraine as...
Kremlin Accuses the West of Interfering in Ukrainian Elections
The Kremlin tends to shift blame away from itself by accusing its adversaries of interference while disregarding its own interference efforts in Ukraine’s presidential election. When the Kremlin perpetrated the Salisbury poisoning and fabricated explanations following the tragedy, its media accused the West. When the Kremlin seeks to justify its military aggression in Ukraine,...
Russian News Monitor: March 18-24, 2019
This is a regular weekly report by Detector Media, a partner of the Ukrainian Election Task Force, offering exclusive content covering the three main Russian state TV talk shows, particularly these shows’ coverage of Ukraine and the 2019 presidential election. Kremlin-backed media outlets often generate disinformation narratives that are then spread throughout Ukraine as...
Kremlin’s Fighters Question Legitimacy of Election
One of the most important divisions in Ukraine’s election landscape is that between pro-Western and pro-Kremlin political forces. Despite the protracted war with Russia and the continued occupation of Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine by Russia-supported military groups, the positions of those politicians advocating for a rapprochement with Moscow remain strong. The leaders...
Round II: Kremlin’s Media Misrepresent International Observers
As we have reported many times already, Kremlin-controlled propaganda frequently manipulate reporting to create the impression that the Ukrainian presidential election on March 31 will be rigged and falsified. The disinformation machine uses the authority of respected international organizations to buttress its claims. Previously, it was the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe;...
Hungary Engages in Interference Efforts
Gergely Gulyás, the Minister of the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Office, has accused Ukrainian authorities of trampling minority rights and adopting a “semi-fascist” law. Responding to a question about elections in Ukraine at a press conference in Budapest, Gulyás said that “Ukraine currently has a government that tramples on minority rights, one that...
Task Force Update: Five Years Later
Five years ago in Kyiv, roughly 100 protestors, dubbed the “Heavenly Hundred,” made the ultimate sacrifice when they were gunned down while demonstrating against the corrupt, authoritarian government of Viktor Yanukovych. Soon after, Yanukovych fled to Russia, and Russian forces invaded and illegally annexed Crimea and then turned their sights to The Donbas. Nearly...
Scaring Ukrainian Voters: Repression, Violence, and Contact Killings
Ramping up efforts to sow distrust in Ukraine’s government, former President Viktor Yanukovych claims that Ukraine’s government has attempted to assassinate Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, a politician with close ties to President Putin. Mainstream media, including 1+1, Inter, Ukrainska Pravda, and Channel 112, have propagated this narrative, which only amplifies distrust and undermines faith...