The blood-soaked trenches of the Donbass region are where the American-backed conflict with Russia is being waged in order to gain people’s hearts and minds, according to military planners.
A sprawling cluster of media outlets organized with considerable money and direction from the U. S. government has not just worked to counter Soviet propaganda but has supported solid censorship laws and shutdowns of rebel outlets, disseminated disinformation of its own, and sought to silence critics of the war, including several American citizens.
One of the detractors on both the left and the right who have been cast as members of a “network of Russian propaganda” is Glenn Greenwald, an economist, Jeffrey Sachs, Tucker Carlson, a critic, and Glenn Greenwald, a professor at the University of Chicago.
The numbers targeted by the Ukrainian guardian organizations are rarely Kremlin agents, though. They merely have strongly criticized dominant stories about the war.
Sachs, a highly regarded global development expert, has infuriated Ukrainian authorities with his repeated demands for a political resolution to the current military conflict. He spoke at the UN next month in a speech calling for a negotiated peace.
Mearsheimer has written extensively on global relationships and is a skeptical of NATO enlargement. He predicted that a Russian war may result from American efforts to mobilise Ukraine.
Greenwald is a Pulitzer Prize-winning independent journalist who has criticised not only advertising relationships that control tones that conflict with American stories.
” What they mean when they demand repression of ‘ pro- Russia advertising’ is anything that concerns the US/EU position in the Ukraine conflict or who disagrees from their stories”, Greenwald has  , observed.
These experts are not subject to any accusations of Kremlin influence over their opinions, but their comments alone suffice for a network of Ukrainian media organizations supported by the United States to demonize them as Russian propagandists.  ,
As Congress debates major new funding to support the Ukrainian war effort, U. S. taxpayer dollars are already flowing to outlets such as the New Voice of Ukraine, VoxUkraine, Detector Media, the Institute of Mass Information, the Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine, and many others. Some of this money comes from the$ 44.1 billion in foreign aid for the needs of the population, which is committed to Ukraine. The funding is officially billed as an ambitious program to develop high-quality independent news programs, combat malign Russian influence, and modernize Ukraine’s outdated media laws, but in many cases the new sites have promoted aggressive messages that defy conventional journalistic practices to promote the Ukrainian government’s official positions and delegitimize its critics.
VoxUkraine has released highly produced videos attacking the credibility of American opposition voices, including Sachs, Mearsheimer, and Greenwald. One of the most powerful media watchdog organizations, Detector Media, produces a stream of social media posts and posts that refer to American war critics as part of a Russian disinformation operation. Domestic disputes are another area of focus for the outlets. Detector Media’s broadcasts have lampooned critics of Ukrainian government moves to shut down opposition media outlets.
The media outlets, which are funded by USAID, also target dissident voices.
In February, Detector Media sued The New York Times for information on a news report about hundreds of Ukrainians who had been captured or taken hostage in the Avdiivka conflict. The Ukrainian fact- check site offered little in terms of a rebuttal. The Ukrainian Defense Forces ‘ spokesperson who challenged the Times ‘ story, which Detector Media only cited, as “disinformation,” was a spokesperson for the organization. A Ukrainian official was quoted by The New Voice of Ukraine, describing the Times story as a” Russian Psyop,” a term used to describe psychological warfare.
Unlike similar media development programs that USAID has led throughout the Middle East, Ukrainian outlets tend to produce a great deal of English content that trickles back into the domestic American audience and explicitly targets American foreign policy discourse.
Yahoo News is a partner of The New Voice of Ukraine. With Meta, VoxUkraine, a fact-checking partner, helps to get content that is deemed” Russian disinformation” removed from Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. Detector Media has similarly led a consortium of nonprofit groups pressuring social media to aggressively remove content critical of Ukraine.
According to Nicolai N. Petro, a professor specializing in Russian and Ukrainian affairs at the University of Rhode Island, “it makes more sense to have it in English because one of the things that happens is that the narrative that one encounters in the mainstream media in the West is referenced as the official Ukrainian voices.”
These then become the well-known voices of Ukraine, even though they are only an echo of the voice we are projecting into Ukraine, Petro continued.
In the new aid earmarked for the war in Ukraine that Congress is now debating, a small portion of the$ 60 billion emergency spending package is , devoted , to continued USAID programs in the country. In an , interview  this week with Politico and Bild, President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that those who were opposed to the aid package had been influenced by Russian propaganda.
Zelensky cited Russian influence as having” they have their lobbies everywhere: in the United States, in the EU countries, in Britain, in Latin America, in Africa,” without giving names. The pro- Russian pressure groups, the Ukrainian president added, relied on “certain media groups, citizens of the United States”.
Information control is a key component of the Ukraine-Russian conflict. President Vladimir Putin’s actions have been widely covered in the U.S. media, with new criminal penalties for those publishing “false information” about the conflict. Many independent outlets in Russia have been forced to close, including the left- leaning radio station Ekho Moskvy. Additionally, the Russian government has barred at least 22 journalists from accessing Russian-language news outlets in the West, including Evan Gershkovich of The Wall Street Journal.
The Ukraine government’s crackdown on independent and opposition media, aided by the U.S.-backed network of anti-disinformation groups, has attracted much less attention. Even as Washington’s efforts to censor information at home are drawing greater scrutiny, its support of Ukraine’s efforts reflects the increasingly global reach of the American government’s propaganda arms.
The United States is not a disinterested party; it is an active participant, according to George Beebe, a director with the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.” There is an information war going on between Russia and Ukraine. The United States government has been trying to influence perceptions, and it’s very difficult to tell the difference between what’s intended for foreign audiences and what seeps into the Anglosphere media, if you want to call it that, even here in the United States.
American influence in Ukraine’s media environment stretches back to the end of the Cold War, though it has intensified in recent years. 175 national Ukrainian media organizations have received support from USAID since the start of the conflict.
In an effort to shield social media from disinformation over the past ten years, efforts to restrict speech have become more and more justified. The U. S. helped set up new think tanks and media watchdogs and brought over communications specialists to guide Ukraine’s approach. The polarizing official Nina Jankowicz, who President Biden appointed to oversee the Department of Homeland Security’s Disinformation Governance Board to monitor social media content, previously gave the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry advice on the anti-disinformation work.
The U.S. State Department responded to inquiries about the U.S.-backed anti-disinformation organizations targeting Americans in a statement that stated it defines disinformation as “false or misleading information that is purposefully created or distributed with the intent to deceive or mislead.” It added,” We accept there may be other interpretations or definitions and do not censor or coerce independent organizations into adopting our definition” . ,
We do not control the editorial content of these organizations, the statement states, but it does state that the United States “provides funding to credible independent media organizations to strengthen democracies in the countries we work in around the world”.
However, reports suggest that the U.S. government and its contractors tasked with reforming Ukraine’s institutions have directly set the agenda for Ukrainian outlets. Immediately after Russia invaded Ukraine two years ago, the USAID dispensed emergency grants to its media partners, partly through the Zinc Network, a contractor based in London that has been , accused , of setting up covert public relations campaigns on behalf of the British government.
According to the grant description, the money was “undermine Kremlin information operations” and” to assist the Ukrainian government with strategic communications. The grant instructions directed the recipients to provide “quick, effective PR and media engagement” in contrast to independent reporting. In addition to countering Russian disinformation, the money was intended to “maintain public morale” and “bolster international support for solidarity with Ukraine”.
The Zinc Network’s Open Information Partnership, which coordinates the activities of several anti-Russian disinformation nonprofits supported by NATO members, including Detector Media, leaked a report last September.
The , a lengthy report, defines disinformation as “verifiable information that is unbalanced or skewed, amplifies, exaggerates, or uses emotive or inflammatory language to achieve effects that fit within existing Kremlin narratives, aims, or activities” as well as “verifiable information which is unbalanced or skewed” or “verifiable information which is verified or misleading.”
In other words, factual information with emotional language that simply overlaps with anything remotely connected to Russian viewpoints is considered disinformation, according to this U. S. backed consulting firm helping to guide the efforts of Ukrainian think tanks and media.
This hazy label appears in many of the report’s broad narratives, which are characterized as Russian disinformation. These included concerns that NATO is using Ukraine as a pawn in a proxy war against Russia, and concerns that Ukrainian politicians are corrupt.
The report goes on to blame many British and American experts who “portray the West as being divided, corrupt, or nefarious” as part of the Russian disinformation system. Liberal journalists Max Blumenthal and Ellie Cook from Newsweek, as well as Republican figures like former Arizona congressman Andy Biggs and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, are named as voices that end up appearing in Russian propaganda and disinformation in the document.
The Open Information Partnership report recommends new legislation to combat “malign foreign actors” and urges European intelligence agencies to “do more” and offer a “unified approach” to combat the dangers of disinformation. Zinc Network did not respond to a request for comment.
The government of Ukraine has also collaborated with American government officials and others to censor its critics in the United States. A notable example of this is the work of RealClearInvestigations contributor Aaron Maté, who has written in other publications about U.S. policy toward Ukraine. Following the Russian invasion, Twitter, under its old ownership, flagged Maté to be censored after the Security Service of Ukraine ( SBU), the Ukrainian intelligence agency,  , included him on a list of accounts , sent to the FBI that were” suspected by the SBU in spreading fear and disinformation”.
Ross Burley, a former Zinc Network and Open Information Partnership official who is currently employed by the Centre for Information Resilience, made a public statement about his desire to censor critics of the war, including Maté, just months after the social media request. According to a now-deleted profile,  discussed , the rise of independent media criticizing the Ukrainian government and Western support for a war that has devastated that nation. He discussed the conflict at the Opinion Festival in Tallinn, Estonia, in August 2022.
Burley argued that social media needed more “responsibility” in terms of the types of content to permit. According to Burley, who added that it is “incredibly irresponsible for YouTube and other social media companies to continue hosting these people, I even saw Russell Brand, who has a huge following on YouTube, interviewing a journalist called Aaron Maté on his channel.
Silencing Zelensky’s Enemies Within
The organizations that the U.S. government supports have also attempted to silence critics in Ukraine. Before the war, Volodymyr Zelensky made the first controversial moves to stifle political opposition by announcing the closure of television stations 112, NewsOne, and ZIK, owned by Viktor Medvedchuk and his associate Taras Kozak, former members of the opposition’s Opposition Party of Life, in February 2021.
” The sanctions against TV channels of Mr. Medvedchuk are not about media and freedom of speech at all” , , said Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Zelensky’s chief of staff. This is only about successful defenses against fakes and foreign propaganda.
The deputy high commissioner for human rights of the UN later that year, in December 2021, criticized Ukrainian restrictions on journalists ‘ freedom of expression and other aspects. The report cited the closure of opposition television channels and other media.
However, the Zelensky government was quickly defended by the USAID-funded Ukrainian media network. According to Detector Media, the decision to close the outlets was not” an attack on freedom of speech” because, according to the organization, the channels “provided informational support of Russian aggression against Ukraine.”
In May 2022, the Zelensky government widely expanded its efforts to outlaw the political opposition. The largest of Medvedchuk’s Opposition Party of Life, which previously held 44 seats in the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament, was the one that Zellensky moved to ban over alleged ties to Russia.
Later that summer, civil libertarian concerns that had previously prevented legislation to restrict media rights were brought back into consideration. Mykyta Poturayev, a Ukrainian legislator and close ally of Zelensky, reintroduced the On Media Law.
The legislation includes provisions to punish hate speech and disinformation as well as broad authority to halt some forms of foreign influence. The authority to a Zelensky and his allies ‘ council to impose media restrictions without a court order is one of its most contentious provisions.  ,
Numerous journalists voiced opposition to the legislation before Zelensky signed it in December 2022. It was criticized as a severe violation of journalistic freedom by the European Federation of Journalists, the European Federation of Journalists, and the Committee to Protect Journalists. Ukraine’s National Union of Journalists described the bill as the “biggest threat to free speech in independent]Ukraine’s ] history”.
In a time when journalistic freedom is tightened, the USAID-funded media groups once more provided crucial support. The efforts to support the bill were largely led by media outlets and think tanks supported by the U.S. government. As the Ukrainian legislature moved forward, Detector Media reported a new statement from select journalists and nonprofits who supported the controversial legislation. The Zelensky-appointed council overseeing the media was an “independent regulator,” according to the statement , and it urged the adoption of the law as a means of preventing foreign aggression.
The Center for Democracy and Rule of Law in Ukraine organized the statement. In 2022, the group received 76.67 percent of its budget from USAID, USAID’s contractors, and the National Endowment for Democracy ( NED), a U. S. government- funded nonprofit that was spun out of the Central Intelligence Agency in the 1980s.
The Laboratory of Digital Security and Human Rights Platform, both funded by USAID and Internews, a California-based USAID contractor that manages much of the agency’s Ukrainian media work, were the other signatories of the statement. The company’s in-house Ukrainian media outlet, Internews Ukraine, also signed the statement supporting the On Media Law.
Internews is a significant pillar of USAID’s$ 35 million Ukraine media program. The network of media and activists who collaborate with the USAID organizations has been funded by billionaires Pierre Omidyar via the Omidyar Network and George Soros via the International Renaissance Foundation, as well as other European governments and private sector financiers.
Other supplemental funding has been allegedly rushed to local Ukrainian media according to disclosures. In 2021, before Russia’s invasion, Detector Media , received , 35.1 percent of its nearly$ 1 million budget from Internews. According to new data from the federal government, USAID provided a$ 2.5 million direct grant to Detector Media last year.
NED noted that U.S.-backed groups have played a key role in the country’s law in the report” Long-Term Investments Pay Dividends in Ukraine.” It pointed to a coalition of nonprofits led by the Coalition Reanimation Package of Reforms, a USAID- backed group that mobilized civil society to lobby for legal and legislative changes. The group played a significant role in the push for the On Media Law. The organization applauded the passing of the law, citing it as one of the biggest accomplishments of the war’s reforms.
After the legislation was passed, Detector Media attacked” Pro- Russian Telegram channels” for spreading “fakes and manipulations” about the law. The group claimed that the law “had to be adopted in the context of Ukraine’s European integration” in a fact-check that was published . The post refuted the claim that the law “introduces authoritarian forms of censorship” by pointing out that “media professionals and members of the public were involved in its development.”
NED, the former CIA arm, has publicly touted the effort to pass the On Media Law for its work in reshaping Ukraine’s media landscape. The group discusses the law in a , report , written in collaboration with Detector Media, in order to support efforts to “ride the Ukrainian information space of harmful Russian propaganda.” The report noted some journalistic criticism of the proposal and came to the conclusion that it was” supported by the majority of media-related civil society organizations and international donors for its expansion of democratic accountability in the information space.”
Unmentioned in NED and Detector Media’s claims of widespread media support for the law is its own central role and that of other USAID- backed groups.
New Reporting Issues
Many Ukrainians readily accepted the need for immediate government influence in the first few months of the Russian invasion. The Ukrainian government condensed the major television channels into a single” United News” national broadcast that continues today. Many journalists voluntarily put pause in reporting on the Ukrainian government in order to concentrate on Russian invasion coverage.
Reporters are now having new challenges reporting on routine issues after more than two years of the conflict. Journalists taking a critical look at the government are facing intimidation and threats.
The precarious situation independent journalists face in today’s Ukraine has been covered by The Columbia Journalism Review. A pair of thugs detained Yuriy Nikolov, a well-known investigative journalist who has found scandals involving contracts for military catering, at her home in January. The men tried to break down Nikolov’s door, and according to his mother, who was home, called him a “provocateur” and a” traitor”.
Hidden camera footage of journalists with Bihus was made public that month. Local media outlet Info used illegal drugs in private use, which has been extensively exposed by the Ukrainian government. Denys Bihus, the head of the site, has reported on Ukraine’s intelligence service’s involvement in the surveillance and intimidation of his media outlet.
Anatoly Shariy, a contentious Ukrainian blogger who has received numerous death threats, has repeatedly clashed with USAID’s network of media outlets. Shariy is renowned for his incisive criticism of the 2014 Maidan Revolution, which put Ukraine on a path to NATO-friendly alignment and toppled pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych. The SBU, the Ukrainian intelligence agency, has accused him of “high treason” over alleged ethnic slurs targeted toward the people of the western region of Ukraine.
The organization added new allegations in July 2023, claiming Shariy distributed staged videos of Ukrainian prisoners held by Russian forces. Shariy has reportedly sought asylum in Italy after moving from the Netherlands to Spain.
Online reporting in English, though, is dominated by USAID media outlets. Half a dozen articles were found by VoxUkraine, Detector Media, the Institute of Mass Information, and the New Voice of Ukraine when searching for Shariy’s name. The articles denigrate Shariy as a pro-Russian propagandist and criminal who has committed a variety of speech-related crimes.
” In his Telegram posts, Shariy tries to emphasize that Russia is more united and stronger than Ukraine”, Detector Media claimed. He opposes the breaking of any ties between Russia and Ukraine. Shariy continues to propagandize lies that are favorable to Russia and spread disinformation despite the existence of proof of their crimes and the existence of credible Russian lies.
The Detector Media article provides little substance in terms of any illegal actions beyond Shariy’s viewpoints. However, it is enough to make someone an enemy of the state by expressing opinions that conflict with Ukraine and NATO policies regarding the war.
RealClearInvestigations was the first to publish this article.
