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The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, visited the Americas from December 9 to 12, 2023. On December 10, he was in South America, where he took part in the inauguration of Argentine President Javier Milei, who, according to Russian propagandists, is planning to "sell Argentina's economy to the United States of America.”
During this ceremony, Ukrainian media drew attention to the fact that Zelenskyy had a short conversation with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. According to the European Truth (Європейська правда) publication, the Ukrainian president has not seen Orban since 2019. Hungary is one of the European Union's countries that most often slows down the process of Ukraine's accession to the EU and the provision of financial or humanitarian aid to Ukraine. On December 10-11, the official portal of the President of Ukraine reported that Zelenskyy had official conversations with the Prime Minister of Cape Verde, the presidents of Paraguay, Uruguay, Ecuador, the newly elected president of Argentina, representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora in Argentina, and local journalists. Zelenskyy also spoke by phone with French President Emmanuel Macron.
From December 11, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in North America. In the United States of America, he spoke at the US National Defense University and met with International Monetary Fund's Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank's President Ajay Banga, and representatives of the US defense enterprises. On December 12, Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with representatives of the upper and lower houses of the US Parliament, the lower house speaker, Mike Johnson, President Joe Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris. On the morning of December 13, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was already in Norway.
During his visit to America, Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed that he communicated with at least eight politicians outside the United States. However, propagandists mainly discussed Ukraine's relations with the United States of America throughout this time.
Ukraine has political and economic relations with representatives of various countries in the Americas and institutions headquartered there, which influence Ukraine's support in international institutions. Russian propagandists could have found details on several topics in these representatives' stories that could have frustrated Ukrainians. However, 112 pro-Russian Telegram channels focused on traditional topics — Ukraine's relations with the United States and European states. Meanwhile, South American states were mentioned much less often.
Data in the posts mentioning Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his visit to Argentina and the USA from December 9-12, 2023, was provided by the LetsData company.
Regarding Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Latin America: "He is already begging from micro-dwarfs"
Pro-Russian channels mainly mentioned Paraguay, Uruguay, and Ecuador while listing the countries whose representatives came to Milei’s inauguration. Argentina was not mentioned when talking about the inauguration of the president of this country. Pro-Russian and Russian Telegram channels compared Zelenskyy with the Nazis and claimed that Zelenskyy came to Argentina precisely because: "Argentina is famous for its traditions of hiding Nazi criminals. Perhaps Mr. Zelenskyy will soon fulfill Ukraine's dream to become a second Switzerland and will open a second Ukraine for the nation, but not in the Andes, but somewhere on the border with Paraguay, so that the scenery is more similar to his native Kryvyi Rih."
When Russian propagandists discuss Nazis in Argentina, they talk about particular representatives of the Nazi Germany authorities who found refuge in this country after the Second World War. The most famous case is the abduction of Holocaust accomplice Adolf Eichmann from Argentina and his delivery to Israel for trial.
Pro-Russian Telegram channels also combined stereotypes about the countries of Latin America with fakes about Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s alleged drug addiction and his replacement by a "more obedient leader": “Cannabis is legal in Uruguay, according to country guides. But as a non-resident president, he (Zelenskyy — DM’s note) will not be able to buy it. But you can receive it as a gift and smoke it in public... Coincidentally, but just today, the Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Russia, Sergey Naryshkin, said that various officials of Western countries are increasingly discussing the need to replace Zelenskyy."
The pro-Russian Telegram channel, aimed at residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, discussed Zelenskyy's meeting with the Prime Minister of Cape Verde, José Ulisses de Pina Correia e Silva, as a sign of Ukraine's weakness: "He is already begging from micro-dwarves. I wonder who the Ukrainians have not crawled in front of yet with an outstretched hand?". Since 2014, Cape Verde has supported resolutions and decisions on the territorial integrity of Ukraine at the UN.
In the phone conversation between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Emmanuel Macron, where the leaders of Ukraine and France talked about the situation on the battlefield, the export of Ukrainian grain, and Europe's support for Ukraine, the propagandists squeezed into one slogan: "Give us money”. In the context of this conversation, the posts’ authors in the pro-Russian Telegram channels mentioned the articles that appeared in the French media at that time to repeat the clichés about the "failed counteroffensive," "the atmosphere of defeat in Ukraine," and "the transformation of Ukraine into a colony of George Soros’s son."
The pro-Russian Telegram channels most often reported on the conversation between Zelenskyy and Orban without any evaluation. They have also repeated the fake that Ukraine is mobilizing representatives of the Hungarian national minority, while Ukrainians, according to them, do not participate on the battlefield.
"Orban believes that there are very few Hungarians left, while Zelenskyy snatches them out of his hands and sends them to the front. For him [Orban], the most important thing in this war is that Ukrainians are killing Hungarians for their interests," stated the post of the pro-Russian Telegram channel, aimed at the temporarily occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions’ audience.
Regarding Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the USA: "Artificial respiration for the deceased"
In the Telegram, propagandists presented Volodymyr Zelenskyy's stay in the USA as a failed "tour". According to them, he had a separate repertoire for each interlocutor: "He brought a story of failure on the front to the head of the Pentagon, and a plea for the allocation of aid to the Senate" — $61.4 billion in 2024.
The United States of America is one of Ukraine's largest financial aid donors. According to the Kiel Institute, from January 24, 2022, to October 31, 2023, the United States provided Ukraine with $71.5 billion. Almost $44 billion in military aid. During this time, Ukraine was supported more than the United States of America only by the institutions of the European Union, which allocated almost $85 billion. However, the EU focuses more on financial assistance, which has provided $77 billion since January 24, 2022. The military aid during this time was $5.6 billion.
The vote by members of the US House of Representatives, the lower house of the US Congress, to allocate funds from the federal budget to finance American civil servants and US aid to Ukraine for 2024 became a matter of domestic politics in the States. Assistance to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan during October-November was linked to the strengthening of the US border with Mexico and the introduction of a stricter migration policy. Exploiting the fear of an influx of migrants is one of the main themes of Donald Trump's election campaign, who plans to run again for the US presidency in 2024. The Republicans demand that the draft law consider the anti-migration requirements that Trump's supporters try to achieve. According to Business Insider, Trump is supported by 80 of the 435 members of the House of Representatives, 17 of the 100 senators, and members of the upper house of the US Parliament. Currently, neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have a convincing majority in the upper or the lower house of the US Parliament. In the lower house, Republicans have 221 members, and Democrats have 213. In the upper house, Republicans have 49 representatives, and Democrats have 48.
The US presidential election is scheduled for November 2024, and the newly elected president should take office in January 2025. Today, neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have decided on a single presidential candidate. According to The New York Times, on December 4, 2023, the Democrats had three candidates, and the Republicans had seven. Moreover, there are three more independent candidates. The procedure of primaries will help determine the only candidate from each party, e.g., choosing one or more of the candidates of each party who will become the official candidate. Those who lose the primaries will be able to run as independent candidates. The primaries should end by June 2024. In addition, candidates are trying to consolidate the support of various interest groups. Although part of the democratic political tradition in the USA, these processes cannot help but influence members of Congress and Senate as elected representatives of the people. Ukraine also experiences similar issues with a drop in the number and quality of adopted bills or an increase in their consideration’s duration before the parliamentary and presidential elections.
Propagandists use the vicissitudes of US politics to worsen the hopes of Ukrainians for the coming year. They often associate aid from the US with arguments about the need for negotiations with Russia. The logic of the propagandists is well illustrated by a post in the Russian pro-government publication, Izvestia (Известия), in its Telegram channel: "Zelenskyy is in an "increasingly difficult situation" because the US Congress has not yet approved new budget allocations to help Kyiv. "Anxiety is growing in Ukraine" as disagreements in Washington prevent the aid's release. The tension between Kyiv and Washington arose against political disagreements in Zelenskyy's entourage. Relations between Ukrainian officials, which previously maintained the appearance of unity, are now clearly unraveling."
On top of these theses, Russian propagandists regularly use other propaganda messages that are based on Ukrainian, American, or European news or are made up by Russians, such as manipulations regarding mobilization in Ukraine. According to it, Ukraine is "running out of men", so it needs negotiations with Russia, or the war against Ukraine is "only one of 183 regional conflicts in the world". Russians try to increase the Ukrainians’ uncertainty in the future through forecasts about the distribution of political forces in the world. For example, if Donald Trump becomes the president of the USA in 2025, he "may force Zelenskyy to go for an agreement with Russia."
In addition to insinuations about Donald Trump's steps in the future, the pro-Russian Telegram channels highlighted the positions of the US politicians who do not support Ukraine. This time, Russians quoted far-right Republican Matt Gaetz.
"America has sent enough money to Ukraine. We must tell Zelenskyy to strive for peace," — stated a pro-Russian Telegram channel on December 11, sharing a quote from the congressman, who does not support Ukraine.
With such and similar messages, propagandists try to create an impression that everyone in the US is tired of Ukraine.
Regarding the future of Ukraine: "The USA will replace Zelenskyy with soldafon, and the land will be given to corporations"
Part of the propagandists' messages referred to the alleged conflict between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine, Valeriy Zaluzhnyy. Russians have been spreading this thesis since the fall of 2022. This autumn, propagandists intensified the topic of the alleged conflict between Zaluzhnyy and Zelenskyy. In November 2023, for example, they popularized a video in which a deep fake character of Zaluzhnyy called on the military to "go to Kyiv". Moreover, propagandists accused Zaluzhnyy of "excessive popularity and publicity that harms Zelenskyy."
On December 12, Russian Telegram channels used Zelenskyy's visit to the United States to supplement the topic of the conflict between Zelenskyy and Zaluzhnyy with another traditional message about external governance." According to them, the USA chooses Ukrainian leaders: "Actually, Zelenskyy did not want to fly to the United States, and with promises and threats, they took him to a beating/meeting with Biden. The verdict has been signed and is not subject to appeal. Washington has already elected the dumb old Zaluzhnyy as president, who will not throw away [their] tricks and obediently carry out all instructions."
With such messages, propagandists try to create the impression that Ukraine is not an independent state and its survival depends exclusively on the will of external forces. In this picture of the world, the purpose of Ukraine's existence is to prepare the transfer of everything valuable to transnational corporations. The "corporation of the day", according to the pro-Russian Telegram channel, which spreads rumors, was the BlackRock corporation. According to the Fortune 500 rating, as of December 2023, BlackRock is the 229th largest corporation in the United States. Here's what the pro-Russian Telegram channel wrote about it: "Zelenskyy's trip to the USA was necessary to close the BlackRock case, all strategic Ukrainian enterprises (NPP, HPP, PHG, regional energy, regional gas/factories, and most importantly, the subsoil) and land will be managed by a multinational company."
In February 2023 and June-July, Ukraine discussed the creation of the Development Fund of Ukraine, which the BlackRock investment company will manage. The fund should have been engaged in attracting investments to Ukraine after the end of hostilities. Yet, the propagandists confused a real informational excuse with their picture of the world.
Regarding human rights in Ukraine: "Give Lira to Musk"
During Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s trip to the Americas, accusations of Ukraine's imprisonment of US citizen Gonzalo Lira were spread on the X social network. One of the propagators of the demand to release Lira was the former host of "FoxNews" Tucker Carlson, who spreads fake news about Ukraine in his show, while the other one is the billionaire Elon Musk. Musk posted at least two tweets about Lira. The tweet, which reads as follows, was mentioned in 48 posts out of 709 posts in pro-Russian Telegram channels analyzed for this research: "A US citizen is in prison in Ukraine after we sent over 100 billion dollars? Is there something more to this story than just criticism of Zelenskyy? If that's all, then we have a serious problem here."
Elon Musk's tweet
Gonzalo Lira is a citizen of the United States and Chile. The Security Service of Ukraine detained him in May 2023. Lira was charged under Article 436-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine "Justification, recognition as legitimate, denial of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, glorification of its participants”. Ukrainian court chose a preventive measure of detention with the condition of release after posting bail. The deposit was made. Lira escaped from the investigation and tried to leave Ukraine. He was detained in the Transcarpathian region and returned to Kharkiv in a pretrial detention center.
Elon Musk, followed by Russian propagandists, manipulated the fact that, supposedly, any US citizen has the right to be free from criminal prosecution in Ukraine if their state supports Ukraine. Such approaches contradict the principle of the rule of law, which is observed in democratic states. Lira cannot be called guilty of a crime until the court verdict, but even the wealthiest man in the world from the country that helps Ukraine the most cannot interfere in the investigation.
Pro-Russian Telegram channels and media operating in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine presented Lira's stay under investigation in Ukraine as evidence of the US weakness. Telegram channels also used quotes by a man called the father of Gonzalo Lira: "If we want to protect democracy around the world, then we need to take this puppet, Zelenskyy, and allow the Congress in the United States to shout once and for all: "This rhetoric, this man - this cannot continue any longer." The US is sliding down every day. The Chinese are defeating us. I mean, what kind of foreign policy do we have? And the most terrible thing is that none of them knows the history because a bunch of ignorant people have gathered in the White House."
In this post, the propagandists included four messages that they have been repeating for years: "Ukraine is not a democratic state, as it persecutes dissidents”, "Volodymyr Zelenskyy must be removed from office," "the United States is falling into an abyss," "the wrong people rule the United States".
Using these topics of Russian propaganda and mixing them up accompanied Volodymyr Zelenskyy's entire trip to the USA. Yet, it was a repetition of previously voiced theses of Russian agitational propaganda and was impressive only because of how freely the propagandists combined different theses in one Telegram post.
