Published: May 30, 2024
Viktor Medvedchuk, former Ukrainian citizen, now exiled in Russia and promoter of the Voice of Europe’s propaganda crusade in Ukraine. (Photo: Duma. gov. ru, Wikimedia, License)
By Enrique Papa
The European Union on Tuesday announced sanctions against a media outlet that spreads anti-Ukrainian propaganda, the site’s director and a former Ukrainian accused of treason, denaturalized and exiled in Russia.
The Voice of Europe is accused of orchestrating a foreign propaganda crusade aimed at destabilizing Ukraine amid Russian aggression.
His is replete with op-eds portraying Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a negative light, while insinuating that Ukraine’s leaders are guilty of prolonging the war with Russia.
“Propaganda has consistently targeted European political parties,” the EU said, “. . . as well as civil society, asylum seekers, Russian ethnic minorities, gender minorities and the functioning of democratic establishments in the EU and its Member States. “
Specifically, Voice of Europe criticized Zelensky’s efforts to mobilize foreigners in favor of peace talks that would see the return of Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory to Ukraine, and also warned that the West was to blame for the failure of the peace talks.
Voice of Europe accused Zelensky of introducing “a Nazi narrative of eternal war with Russia into state ideology,” a propaganda line that mirrors Russian President Vladimir Putin’s narrative when he ordered his troops to invade more than two years ago.
Artem Pavlovich Marchevskyi, a Ukrainian and Israeli citizen, has been blacklisted by the EU and the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs for his role as director of the site.
“As the hidden leader of the Voice of Europe, [Marchevskyi] was instrumental in spreading concerted disinformation and biased narratives aimed at undermining Ukraine’s credibility and public symbol and its efforts to protect itself in the face of Russia’s war of aggression,” the EU said.
He has recently been in exile in Slovakia, Reuters reported.
The latest to be named is Viktor Medvedchuk, a former Ukrainian arrested in 2022 for crimes similar to betraying Ukraine by Russia. Medvedchuk is known to have close private ties to Putin and his regime.
He eventually went to Russia in exchange for Ukrainian prisoners of war and was later stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship.
Now exiled from his former country, Medvedchuk is accused that Marchevskyi’s media managed to “spread pro-Russian propaganda in Ukraine and beyond. “
The Czech Republic, for its part, accused Medvedchuk of The Voice of Europe of being a “media platform to bring to light a Russian influence operation. “The aim of this operation is to undermine Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and freedom. “
Medvedchuk, Marchevskyi and Voice of Europe may be contacted for comment.
The Voice of Europe, however, said it “categorically rejects” the EU sanctions and published “THE VOICE OF EUROPE WILL BE BLOCKED due to the European government’s pressure on freedom of expression and attempts to hide the fact about genuine authenticity. “. situation in Europe”, especially in his articles.
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