Читайте українською тут.

In January 2019, Detector Media started analyzing Russian talk shows. Just like Dante from the Divine Comedy, we descended to the very bottom of the hell of Russian journalism and found a three-headed monster – "Evening with Vladimir Solovyov", "Time Will Show", and “News of the Week with Dmitry Kiselev” – there. In the period from January 14 to March 17, these three programs brought to life 183 episodes; 109 of which, that is, almost 60%, concerned Ukraine.

Про Україну – About Ukraine; випусків – episodes.

The main messages

The majority of propagandist programs are very similar. When discussing various coverage opportunities, talk shows reach the same conclusions, communicating the same messages.

68% of the programs claim that Ukraine is under the external control of the West. According to Russian shows, the US Department of State provoked the Maidan, maintains the war in the East, determines the outcome of the election, and even obtained tomos for Ukraine. Moreover, Petro Poroshenko is the creation of US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch (even though Poroshenko became president two years before her appointment). At the same time, Russians are also deeply offended by the Kyiv's ties with the West: "Three sisters: Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. First, two sisters have been giving the third one sugar for free, gas, and many other things. Then she came home drunk and disheveled, accompanied by a negro, and said: from now on, he will be living with us in our communal apartment..."

In 64% of episodes, Russian shows cannot do without mentioning the rampant Nazism in Ukraine. Any manifestation of Ukrainian ideology or national policy is perceived as Nazism. The bill on language, decommunization, and counteraction of the Russian "soft power" are all manifestations of Nazism. Just as the Revolution of Dignity, the tragedy in Odesa, rallies against pro-Russian politicians, and "Glory to Ukraine" cries. Russian talk shows are so outraged by the latter, that they could not understand how Donald Tusk – a Pole and the President of the European Council – could say such words in the Verkhovna Rada (after all, according to the Russians, that "the mass murders of Poles" took place to these cries). Because of this phrase on Vilkul's forum, Russian TV shows decided that Oleksandr Vilkul is not a pro-Russian politician. On the air of one of the programs it was even stated that UEFA fines football fans for shouting "Glory to Ukraine", even though, in fact, we actually received a permission to write these words on the football wear of the Ukrainian national team. In addition, the "rampant Nazism" is used as a reason why there are no massive pro-Russian rallies, or rallies to protect the Russian language, in Ukraine. In the opinion of the Russians, people are just scared. In general, "This ideology is the foundation of the state. The pseudo-Ukrainian state. And this society. And those who disagree with it will be burned. Just as it happened in Odesa.”

55% of the shows claim that the elections in Ukraine will be rigged. Voters will be bribed, servers will be hacked, opponents will be intimidated; and if this does not work, they will simply disrupt the vote with the help of a martial law or terrorist attacks. Detector Media have already devoted a separate article to the discreditation of the will expression. There are always calls on Russian television not to recognize Ukrainian elections, and sometimes they are based on very strong arguments: "We cannot recognize these elections, which are absolutely Nazi."

Other trends include the alleged repressions and restrictions on freedom of speech in Ukraine, church-ideological-historical split, accusations of murders against ATO veterans, justification of aggression in the Kerch Strait, accusations of terrorism against Ukrainians, statements about the fact that the Revolution of Dignity was a mass psychosis. In general, this is the same rhetoric as the one used by the younger colleagues of Russian propagandists from the Ukrainian 112 and NewsOne TV channels.

It is important to note that all of the above concerns only the Ukrainian authorities. It is to them that Russians attribute Russophobia, Nazism, corruption, low intelligence, and treason. Russian talk shows even think that Ukraine betrayed Russia. However, in 28% of the programs the Ukrainian people are called a "fraternal" people. Propagandists claim that Ukrainians have a good attitude towards Russia, are kind-hearted, intelligent, and seek peace. But the authorities interfere with everything. It is also interesting that according to northern "journalists", before 1991, citizens of the Ukrainian SSR did not even feel as Ukrainians. And the participants of this year's Eurovision Song Contest selection "gave up on Europe and chose the Russian market instead".

Ukraine is under the external control of the West – 68%

Nazism flourishes in Ukraine – 64%

Ukrainian election in 2019 will be rigged – 55%

Banderization

As we have already mentioned, Russian talk shows call any manifestations of Ukrainian national politics, as well as other events related to ideology, Nazism and "banderization" of Ukraine. The propagandists are imposing the myth that our state is roughly sewed out of large scraps, and the "Galicians" are imposing their views on the entire country. In the mind’s eye of the Kremlin’s followers, it was precisely because of this that Donbas "rebelled" – someone allegedly came to kill the inhabitants of this region in order to impose the Bandera's church, language, and history.

Russia was using the following events in order to illustrate their position: a scandal at the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest (there were statements about the sect, inquisition, and interrogations of participants), Taras Shevchenko's (who is allegedly an artist of both countries) birthday, a scandal about a policeman's cry "Lie down, Banderite" (the Nazis control the country, and the law enforcement officers apologize to them), and the scandal between Iryna Farion and Dmytro Hordon. Putin's creatives described the latter event as follows: "The complete banderization of the country is the goal of the Ukrainian nationalists. They promise to kill everyone who disagrees with this."

The propagandists also convince everyone that "Bandera is, de facto, a new deity", that the glorification of the "Nazis" in Ukraine is a "threat to humanity", and that it is "Bandera's offspring" that are fighting in the East of Ukraine. It is obviously easier for Russian militants to shoot at the dehumanized Ukrainian army.

Banderization

Selection for Eurovision Song Contest: sect, inquisition, interrogations

Farion – Hordon: “The complete banderization of the country is the goal of the Ukrainian nationalists. They promise to kill everyone who disagrees with this”

Taras Shevchenko: “A symbol of this unity of Ukrainians and Russians”

Occupied territories

As for the situation in the Crimea, not only do propagandists deny the reality, they also promote the opposite messages. For example, the peninsula allegedly was not annexed, but it was protected from what is happening in Ukraine today. However, in many respects, it was by the annexation that the situation in Ukraine was provoked. The residents of the Crimea also allegedly were not forced to join Russia, and this was people's choice. There are also no human rights violations in the Crimea; the culture of Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars is preserved there. However, the propagandists shyly avoid mentioning the fact that the US Department of State, the UN Monitoring Commission, and the UN General Assembly report on human rights violations on the peninsula.

As for the so-called "LNR/DNR", their self-proclaimed leaders often appear on the air personally or in video conferences. Terrorists are saying about the attacks of Ukrainian punishers, are complaining about the bloodthirsty shelling of the civilian population by the Kyiv authorities, and are directly claiming that "Integration with the Russian Federation is our goal." In response, the hosts of the programs call on the militants to hold on and appeal to the Kremlin to start issuing Russian passports to residents of certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and to reduce control on the border between separatists and Russia. We can also here such statements as "They are not separatists. They are on their own land [...] None of them even crossed the borders of their republics." After all, having your own republic is not separatism at all.

In addition, talk shows carry out systematic work to ensure that the return to Ukraine scares residents of the occupied territories. For example, they are promised cleansing and mass checks after reintegration (hello, Anatoly Matios). After every major event, aggressor's television shows also claim that now Donbas will certainly not be part of Ukraine again. The course for the EU and NATO strengthens – Donbas will not live in a pro-Western state. Presidential election – Donbas did not elect him. The bill on language – Donbas will not return to a country where Russian is forbidden.

Moreover, Kremlin favorites promote the idea that the territories in the South and East of Ukraine actually never belonged to Ukraine. And if Kyiv is really carrying out decommunization, then it should return these "Soviet assets".

"LNR/DNR"

The East and the South are not Ukraine

Ukraine is moving away from the Donbas

Kyiv is planning aggression

Stool pigeons

"Ukrainian" experts, that is, "fake" guests from Ukraine, who most often play one of the following three roles on the talk show, are another tool of the propagandists. Detector Media has made several videos on this topic.

1. A whipping boy. These are caricature-like pro-government fools whose role is to lose arguments and become a figure of fun. Vyacheslav Kovtun, whose humiliation is depicted in the collections of long videos on YouTube, is an icon for such specialists. In general, at first such an "expert" makes some absurd statement, for example, that we are not scared of corruption, because Ukraine has Tomos. And then he – and because of a synecdoche, all Ukrainians as well – are simply publicly destroyed.
2. Liars. These are people who pose as insiders of certain processes in Ukraine, and, using this status, are believably lying about the situation in the state. At the same time, they promote anti-Russian statements, and their lies look like the defense of the interests of Ukraine. Yanina Sokolovska is an undoubted champion when it comes to such statements: according to her, Kyiv is already (!) developing nuclear weapons, and there are already (!) NATO bases in the territory of Ukraine. In addition, she proposed to exchange the Crimea for peace in the Donbas and was claiming that the West advised our country to "abandon" the Crimea and the Donbas as early as at the time of Yanukovych's presidency.
3. Oppositionists. These are "Russian" residents of Ukraine, who left the state after the Maidan. On the talk shows, they, in fact, explain why they did this: because of the Nazism, massacres of dissidents, censorship, Kyiv's attack on the Donbas. Yuriy Kot – a former TV presenter and a host of "Anti-Maidan" – is one of the most prominent apologists of this movement.

A whipping boy

A liar

An oppositionist

Who does Putin vote for?

Russian talk shows systematically do not support any candidate for the position of the president of Ukraine. On the contrary, they say that all of them are equally bad for the people. They aggressively criticize Petro Poroshenko for the alleged alcoholism, corruption, and his service to the West. Yulia Tymoshenko is blamed for corruption and for being part of the old system. Volodymyr Zelenskyi is perceived exclusively as Kolomoiskyi's puppet.

The only gleam of light, the only island of peace in the sea of ​​militarists, the rock of adequacy over the Banderites’ abyss, a rational exception to the politicized rule is... Viktor Medvedchuk. But since he is not running for president, about which, by the way, not all the guests of Russian talk shows know, then this is Yuriy Boyko. The leader of the "Opposition Platform - For Life" is not promoted often, but when Russian shows do promote him, they do this according to one particular scenario: someone says that all Ukrainian politicians seek war, and then some "expert" mentions Yuriy Boyko, who seems to have a realistic peace plan. After the meeting with Medvedev, Russian shows also started mentioning the "oppositionist," stating that "politics, some momentary moods, enrichment of oligarchs, and other things completely destroy the constructive economic interaction. It seems that at this event an attempt was made to bring constructivism back."

Yet another similarity between Medvedchuk's channels and Russian television

Continuation of aggression

As we have already mentioned, in the past two months, three Russian programs released more than 100 talk shows about Ukraine. And then one of the local "regular experts" simply narrowed all their rhetoric to three sentences: “We can only be interested in the widely understood pro-Russian Ukraine. We will not even talk with Banderites and with those who consider themselves to be pro-American and pro-Western. Therefore, we are interested in those who openly say: neutral Ukraine with equality is bilingual and federal”.

Russians are ready to achieve this using all the possible methods, at least they say so. On the talk shows there are unequivocal calls for aggression against Ukraine: “Strangle today's Ukraine economically. Eliminate it as a state” (video), “This is our people, and we must liberate it using all the possible methods” (video), “We must help them morally. And if there will be a need for the final stage, then this should be done by military means.  If we do not overthrow it, this will be a threat to our national security”, (video) “We must, sooner or later, overthrow this regime, and this must be done by the Ukrainians themselves. If this does not work, then the south and southeast of Ukraine should move away from the Galicia and join Russia. This is our primordial land" (video), "We will not give the Russian land up. As far as to the Polish border [...] As far as to Odesa!" (video). And if NATO deploys its missiles in the territory of Ukraine: “Striking this territory [...] Eliminate everything that can be associated with the hostility towards Russia there” (video).

In spite of all the above, 4% of Ukrainians, that is, about 1,300,000 people, still receive information from the Russian television.

The monitoring is carried out by the Detector Media NGO within the framework of the Working Group on Combating Foreign Interference in the Ukrainian Elections, created at the end of 2018 by the Atlantic Council, the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity, and the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in partnership with StopFake and Razumkov Center.

Translated by Taras Zadorozhnyy