Propaganda narrative on corruption in Ukraine becoming strategic for Russia - expert

This was announced by Svitlana Slipchenko, deputy executive chief at the Vox Ukraine nonprofit, head of VoxCheck, who spoke at the discussion at the Ukraine Media Center – Ukrinform on the topic: “Combating corruption in Ukraine: changing attitudes, gamification, and cooperation.”

"Both in the European and Ukrainian media space, fake stories about corruption in Ukraine and various attempts at discrediting the Ukrainian government, in particular over alleged corruption schemes, emerged en masse in November-December 2022. And then, throughout 2023 - early 2024, they are maintained at approximately the same level. This narrative compromising Ukrainian authorities, in particular, regarding corruption in Ukraine, is becoming quite stable in Russian propaganda," Slipchenko said.

She emphasized that this narrative can be considered “strategic” because it pursues a long-term goal of curbing international aid to Ukraine.

According to her, to this end, Russia spins various fake stories both through online media and through its network of pseudo-pundits reporting for Western audiences.

"I’d like to mention one of the latest cases. It was an article published by ‘Global Euronews’, allegedly penned by an American journalist Seymour Hersch. He claimed that CIA Director William Burns had presumably come to Kyiv to report on massive corruption in government, as well as existing outrage from a number of Volodymry Zelensky's subordinates over his ‘excessive share’. This news piece is totally baseless and offers no facts to back it. The fact is that ‘Global Euronews’ is a hoax Russian site that mimics a European media agency. Seymour Hersch is a pseudo-expert who writes for Western audiences and systematically echoes the Kremlin's narratives," said the head of VoxCheck.

She added that in the Ukrainian media space, plenty of Russian disinformation targets top political and military leaders.

"I will note a fresh case that circulated on social networks this month. This is another attempt to discredit (former CinC Valeriy – ed.) ) Zaluzhny and (President Volodymyr – ed.) Zelenskyi. Propagandists span a video allegedly produced by the BBC. It claimed Zaluzhnyi had allegedly received $53 million to give up his political ambitions. The propagandists added that Bellingcat investigator Christo Grozev had allegedly studied the details of the arrangement and confirmed that it really was really the case. The fact is that it was a completely doctored video compiled from various elements of BBC interviews and other videos. Christo Grozev also personally decried this fake piece," Slipchenko said.

As reported by Ukrinform, fake TikTok accounts were discovered that had been spreading disinformation about the Russo-Ukrainian war.