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At the end of 2018, the Atlantic Council, the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity, and the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in partnership with StopFake and the Razumkov Center established the Ukrainian Election Task Force. The Task Force launched an online dashboard ukraineelects.org providing a real-time index of efforts to interfere in Ukraine’s democratic process. In January 2019, NGO Detector Media joined the Task Force in order to weekly monitor the top-rated Russian political talk shows and their coverage of Ukraine and the Presidential elections. Here you can find the results of the first month of monitoring published on the project’s website.

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 Presidential elections. Kremlin-backed media outlets often generate disinformation narratives that are then spread throughout Ukraine as well as Western Europe and the United States. We have identified these TV shows as the main amplifiers of the key disinformation narratives that the Kremlin’s propaganda machine seeks to circulate in the public domain. The messages spread in these shows are further multiplied by the wide network of hundreds and thousands of print, TV, radio and online outlets, as well as via the social media, which target consumers of the Russian-language information ecosystem, including Ukrainians. Indeed, the audience is not limited to within Russia’s borders but also extends to Ukraine itself.

According to the research of Detector Media, 4 percent of Ukrainians receive information about the events in Ukraine and the world from Russian TV channels. In the absolute figures there are about 1.4 million of Ukrainian citizens. 67 percent of those who receive information from Russian TV channels inhabit Southern and Eastern Ukraine.

Programs included in the monitoring: Time Will Tell (Channel One), Evening with Vladimir Solovyov (Russia 1), News of the Week with Dmitry Kiselev (Russia 1)

Monitoring period: February 25 - March 24

Number of programs partially devoted to Ukraine (share in the total number): 52/80

February 25 – March 3

The main topics of the week devoted to Ukraine included the following: the national selection for the annual Eurovision Song Contest; publication of the journalistic investigation into embezzlement in the defense industry; arrival of the USS Donald Cook guided missile destroyer in Ukraine; and consideration of the law on language. The programs also spread disinformation that President Petro Poroshenko seeks to escalate the conflict in The Donbas in order to retain power without the presidential election. The shows’ commentators also pushed the idea that Russians and Ukrainians are one people. The terrorist leader of the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic” Dmitry Pushilin stated during Evening with Vladimir Solovyov that “Integration processes with the Russian Federation are our goal.”

Kremlin-backed television increasingly pushed the idea that President Poroshenko plans to organize an escalation in The Donbas and institute a new martial law, in order to stay in power, or at least to divert attention from news topics which might show him in a negative light. Propagandists who took part in the program Evening with Vladimir Solovyov used the fact that the Ukrainian delegation left the meeting of the humanitarian group in Minsk as “evidence” of such an escalation: “In response to the proposal to sign the spring truce the Ukrainian delegation…left.”

In fact, the diplomats left the meeting after representatives of Russia and the separatists refused to exchange prisoners on all the proposed conditions and began to insult Ukraine. The possibility of the deployment of American missiles in Ukraine and Russia’s response to such actions was also discussed several times during the show. During Evening with Vladimir Solovyov, the commentator declared—without any evidence—that there were already weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine: “Small nuclear charges….They already have this. Just as unmanned strike aircrafts.”

The shows once again heavily used pseudo-Ukrainian experts who claim to convey “the official position of Ukraine”—despite the fact that they have no such mandate and in fact only provide assistance to the Kremlin’s propagandists. In Time Will Show, the “Ukrainian expert” stated that the Western partners “have been saying since the times of Yanukovych that we need to urgently unhook two cars–Crimea and The Donbas–because they are too much of a burden.” According to the “Ukrainian expert,” Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton made similar suggestions; in reality, they never declared anything like this in public. On the Russian talk show, host said the following directly to the leaders of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) terrorist group: “We ache to do everything at once, so that there would be business in Donetsk, so that people would have Russian passports…so that people would feel that Russia stands by them and that Russia will never betray them.”

Ten of the fourteen programs about Ukraine mentioned the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest—a scandal arose because of several contestants’ ties to Russia; the shows used this scandal to illustrate the supposed “Nazi” and “totalitarian” policy of the Ukrainian government. Participants of the Russian TV shows expressed outraged over the question posed by the host of the National Selection to the “Anna-Maria” duet, whose parents live in Crimea—“To whom does Crimea belong?” The programs dubbed this instance an “interrogation,” a manifestation of a “sect,” or “inquisition.” No one mentioned that the performers’ mother works for the Crimean administration and possesses the Russian state award for the “Liberation of the Crimea.” Translators of the Time Will Show misquoted one of the judges of the Ukrainian contest mistranslating the phrase “our country is at war” as “you have a war ahead of you.”

TV show commentators expressed outrage over the Ukrainian language bill and claimed that it will result in the prohibition of Russian-language books, as stated during Evening with Vladimir Solovyov. In reality, there is no such restriction in the bill; it includes only the requirement that publishers publish 50 percent of their output in Ukrainian.

March 4-10

The main topics of the week devoted to Ukraine on Russian television included the following: the election race and the chances each candidate has of winning; the conflict between the journalist Dmytro Gordon and politician Iryna Farion; the anniversary of the death of the UPA leader Roman Shukhevych; and the message of Marie Yovanovitch, US Ambassador to Ukraine. In the background of all these events, propagandists imposed messages about the rise of Nazism in Ukraine, repression of dissent, and aggression in Ukraine.

Russian talk shows have been once again actively accusing Ukrainians of Nazism. For instance, they were discussing the glorification of Stepan Bandera, leader of Ukrainian nationalists during World War II, whom Kremlin propagandists call a Nazi. Commentators on Time Will Show described the situation as such: “Bandera is becoming the new binding force of Ukraine, “Bandera is, de facto, a new deity.” In fact, only 36 percent of Ukrainians (according to the survey conducted by the Rating group) have a positive attitude towards this figure.

The host of Evening with Vladimir Solovyov also manipulated the rhetoric of modern Ukrainian nationalists: “The complete banderization of the country is the goal of Ukrainian nationalists. They promise to kill everyone who disagrees with this.” In reality, this is a very marginal view. The commentator on Time Will Show resorted to a similar bending of facts: “The Swedes expressed their concern about the growth of nationalism and Nazism in Ukraine.” In fact, only one Swedish “writer and doctor” voiced such an opinion. The host of Evening with Vladimir Solovyov also dehumanized Ukrainian servicemen, calling them “Bandera’s offspring.” A guest on one of the episodes of this program claimed that the glorification of the “Nazis” in Ukraine is “a threat to humanity.”

Guests of the Evening with Vladimir Solovyov program also distorted Ukrainians’ perception of another similar historical figure–Roman Shukhevych: they claimed that the anniversary of his death is listed as a date to be commemorated (this is not the case) and that the entire country celebrated it (in reality, there were only a few rallies).

In addition, commentators on these Russian TV shows discussed alleged repression in Ukraine. For example, the host of Evening with Vladimir Solovyov claimed that the election video of one of the presidential candidates was undemocratically banned from being broadcast. In fact, the commercial did not comply with several laws. While on air, the Time Will Show program’s commentator said that you would be hard-pressed to find a country in which the attitude towards journalists is worse than in Ukraine. According to the ranking of the Reporters Without Borders, 79 countries rank lower than Ukraine—including Russia itself, which holds a significantly worse score than Ukraine.

The propagandist Vladimir Solovyov claimed that the Security Service of Ukraine was “threatening the safety of the children” of Svitlana Driuk, a soldier from the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic,” who defected to Ukraine. In fact, the former separatist agreed to work for counterintelligence, provided that her children would be transported to the unoccupied territory.

The situation in the east of Ukraine is regularly subject to manipulation by Kremlin-backed propaganda. On Time Will Show, an alleged viewer from the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic” claimed that The Donbas had never been a part of Ukraine. The facts are that dating back as far as the 15th century, The Donbas was colonized by the Ukrainian Cossacks, and the Russians arrived there en masse only in the 20th century. A representative of the separatists who appeared on Evening with Vladimir Solovyov stated that not a single presidential candidate of Ukraine made any campaign promises to attempt negotiations with the residents of The Donbas. In reality, there are at least two such candidates among the ten candidates leading the ratings. During Evening with Vladimir Solovyov, a pseudo-Ukrainian expert said that Russia is the enemy of Ukraine, because “Americans say so.” Unfortunately, the commentator neglected to mention the fact that Ukraine approved this by law, and the UN recognized the fact that Russia is occupying Crimea.

March 11-17, 2019

The main topics of the week devoted to Ukraine were as follows: rallies of nationalists against Petro Poroshenko, the election race and candidates’ chances, and the cultural policy of Ukraine. Through these topics, propagandists on Kremlin-backed television shows have been trying to spread myths about violence and the “Nazification” of Ukraine.

The TV shows deliberately attempted to frighten viewers by describing the alleged radicalization of Ukraine. During Evening with Vladimir Solovyov, a commentator warned viewers that “if you speak incorrectly, you will be approached by bandits who will beat you, they will rape your wife and burn your house.” On Time Will Show, propagandists insisted that a fear of retribution dissuaded potential protesters from holding rallies in support of the Russian language in Ukraine. In fact, only 2 percent of Ukrainians worry about status of the Russian language.

To reinforce the image of Ukraine as a dangerous and violent country, guests on 80 percent of the shows devoted to Ukraine claimed that an armed conflict between candidates’ supporters will influence the presidential election. On Evening with Vladimir Solovyov, commentators claimed that the Ukrainian authorities tried in 2014 to “clean out” The Donbas by force by supporting the formation of volunteer battalions a month before the official outbreak of hostilities. Propagandists failed to mention that threats made by Kremlin-controlled separatists coincided with the formation of the volunteer battalions.

Finally, during Evening with Vladimir Solovyov, the host criticized Ukraine’s domestic policy as repressive and portrayed it as a direct opposite to that of Russia, where “no one beats and arrests” Ukrainians. In fact, about seventy Ukrainians are currently imprisoned in Russia and occupied Crimea for political reasons.

The Kremlin-backed television shows also covered the cultural policy of Ukraine. The host of Time Will Show claimed that any discussions of a Russian cultural occupation of Ukraine are “rubbish.” In reality, Russian tsars at the end of the 19th century outlawed the Ukrainian language and were paying officials for “success in Russification” of Ukraine. In the ’70s, the Ukrainian SSR implemented a large-scale transition to the Russian language in the fields of education, science, and politics. On the same program, propagandists said that the artist and poet Taras Shevchenko is “a symbol of this unity of the Russian and Ukrainian nations.” In fact, the author consistently criticized Russian Empire and called on Ukrainians to resist Russian oppression, such as in these lines: “Muscovites are foreign folk, they do not treat you right.”

March 18-24, 2019

The main topics of the week devoted to Ukraine on Russian television were as follows: the fifth anniversary of the occupation of Crimea; consideration of the draft law on the Ukrainian language; the statement made by Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko about the list of “protected persons” allegedly given to him by the US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch; and a meeting of Ukrainian politicians with the Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller. Russian propagandists used these and other topics to depict a landscape of degradation and chaos in Ukraine.

The annexation of Crimea was the main topic on this week’s shows. On Time Will Show, Russian propagandists promoted the idea that Russia defended Crimea from falling victim to the current situation in Ukraine. This claim, of course, ignores the reality that the annexation of Crimea helped to spawn Ukraine’s current situation. Left unsaid on Russia’s propaganda outlets is the fact that Russia’s illegal seizure of Crimea disenfranchised several millions of Ukrainian citizens from voting in the presidential election on March 31.

While presenting the seizure of Crimea as legitimate, the propagandists also actively accused the Ukrainian authorities of attacking their own people in the country’s east. For example, on Evening with Vladimir Solovyov, a guest said that Petro Poroshenko “brought war” to The Donbas. In fact, the anti-terrorist operation began two months before the current president’s inauguration and after the Russian-backed separatists declared their republics in eastern Ukraine. This reality contradicts another of the propagandists’ statements, namely that the Ukrainian army entered The Donbas to mandate “what language people must speak, what church they must go to, and what history they must honor.” In fact, the Ukrainian military entered The Donbas to liberate the territories seized by pro-Russian separatists. In addition, participants on Evening with Vladimir Solovyov greatly exaggerated the number of Russians in Ukraine. According to the commentator, there are “more than 12 million” Russians in Ukraine.

The actual count, based on March 2017 data from the Kyiv-based Razumkov Center, is about 2.5 million, about 6.3 percent of Ukraine’s population. Separate attention should be also paid to Russia’s denial of its obligations under the Budapest Memorandum. On Time Will Show, one of the guests saidthe Memorandum contains no provisions about the inviolability of Ukraine’s borders. The document, in fact, addresses this issue in the very first section: “…to respect the independence and sovereignty and the existing borders of Ukraine.”

The propagandists also claimed that Petro Poroshenko is a protégé of the US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, even though he became president two years before her appointment. On Time Will Show, commentators stated that Ukraine is souring economic and gas relations with Russia because of “politics, momentary sentiment, and the enrichment of oligarchs.” In fact, energy independence from Russia is a pillar of Ukraine’s national security. Also on Time Will Show, a pseudo-Ukrainian expert stated that Ukraine has already started developing nuclear weapons. That, simply, is not true.

On Evening with Vladimir Solovyov, the participants directly articulated what they expected of Ukraine: “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.”