Russia illegally involved Ukrainians from the occupied territories in its parliamentary elections but the Kremlin’s agents blame Ukraine. The pro-Kremlin forces focus only on criticizing Ukraine’s reintegration policy, pushing the Kremlin’s responsibility out of the picture and ignoring the often enforced nature of the illegal vote. They push the message that “voting” in Russia’s parliamentary elections was solely a result of actions by the Ukrainian government, not the Kremlin’s dedicated campaign to involve Ukrainians from the occupied territories. To learn more about the latter, watch our video.
The pro-Kremlin “Opposition Platform – For Life” party has held another rally for the release of its leader V. Medvedchuk, charged with high treason. It yet again pushed the narrative of political persecution of the opposition, promoting the idea that the criminal case against the politician was fabricated. The party, so openly loyal to Putin’s regime that it even recognized the fraudulent Duma “elections” and congratulated “United Russia” on “winning”, attempts to portray the crimes of its leaders as dissent and discredit Ukraine’s image as a democratic nation.
The pro-Kremlin forces have renewed attacks on Ukraine’s law on indigenous peoples: they pushed the message that Russians in Ukraine need to be recognized as such. By definition, the indigenous peoples are those ethnicities living in Ukraine that do not have a historical homeland outside of it. Russians do not fall in this category, however, their rights are provided for as the national minority. By promoting the narrative on discrimination of Russians, the Kremlin’s agents attempt to discredit the image of Ukraine and legitimize Russia’s aggression.
