{"id":124565,"date":"2020-08-27T11:10:31","date_gmt":"2020-08-27T08:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/?p=124565"},"modified":"2020-08-27T11:10:33","modified_gmt":"2020-08-27T08:10:33","slug":"who-pursues-the-external-governance-narrative-in-ukraine-and-why-they-do-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/who-pursues-the-external-governance-narrative-in-ukraine-and-why-they-do-it","title":{"rendered":"Who Pursues the \u201cExternal Governance\u201d Narrative in Ukraine And Why They Do It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"External<\/a>
Tap to see more<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ukrainian government tentatively attempts to reestablish trust with International Monetary Fund (IMF), which received a heavy blow after resignation of Yakiv Smolii \u2013 a former head of the National Bank of Ukraine. As his successor does damage control and insists Ukraine will fulfill its obligations in full and on time, these claims trigger different reactions. Some hope that Kyiv will further pursue cooperation with Western partners and international institutions, while others (and, as demonstrated below, they are a very particular crowd) detest the idea and label it as the continuation of \u201cexternal governance\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s Behind the Narrative<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cExternal governance\u201d is one of the top anti-Western narratives promoted in Ukraine \u2013 according to the recent study by UkraineWorld, it\u00a0ranks<\/a>\u00a0second. The term is coined in a specific context that\u00a0stipulates Ukraine has lost its sovereignty and is, essentially, governed from the outside<\/strong>. While the culprit may be different, it is always an actor representing the West: American government in general or Democratic Party of the USA, Brussels as the capital of European Union or international organizations, among which IMF is targeted in particular. Ambiguity of the term allows shifting gears as necessary while building the hostile image of the West.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This narrative may be considered\u00a0a centerpiece in a network of anti-Western messages<\/strong>, as the majority of them are linked to the idea of \u201cexternal governance\u201d. For example,\u00a0a distinct smear campaign against George Soros<\/strong>\u00a0that\u00a0intensified<\/a>\u00a0in March 2020 and expanded to target Ukrainian civic society fits this framework. According to it, institutions and actors linked to (or labeled as such) Soros are involved in undermining Ukrainian sovereignty and turning it into the US \u201ccolony\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0Some of the relevant messages inch even closer to conspiracy theories, such as the claim that\u00a0international elites\u00a0<\/strong>devised<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0a plan to reduce Ukrainian population<\/strong>\u00a0down to 10 million people.\u00a0\u00a0Some are used as an attack against particular institutions, e.g. insistence that the West controls National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine and uses it for political purposes \u2013 or rules the National Bank of Ukraine via leadership appointed by the President and parliament who are portrayed as weak players doing Western bidding.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In these terms, memorandum with IMF was\u00a0portrayed<\/a>\u00a0by some actors as signing off Ukrainian independence and \u201cestablishing the external governance policy\u201d.\u00a0Rules that the Kyiv has to abide by in order to ensure more transparent and effective financial system are consistently twisted and pictured as an attempt to impose foreign rule<\/strong>\u00a0over Ukraine. Financial assistance from IMF helps Ukraine to overcome a threat of default against the backdrop of ongoing Russian aggression and COVID-19 pandemic. Default would not only deliver a heavy blow to the welfare of Ukrainian citizens, but also distance Ukraine significantly from the Western partners and leave face to face with Kremlin. However, actors attacking IMF as well as American and European partners in general, argue that default would be a chance to get rid of \u201cexternal governance\u201d. Who are these actors then, and what is their goal?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who Promotes the Narrative in Ukraine?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Channels of communication involved in spreading the narrative vary \u2013 but the majority of them are linked to pro-Russian agents of influence<\/strong>. TV-channels most heavily pushing the \u201cexternal governance\u201d messages (and increasingly so) are 112, NewsOne, ZIK and Nash. The first three are linked to Viktor Medvedchuk, a notorious pro-Kremlin politician and leader of the \u201cOpposition Platform \u2013 For Life\u201d (OPFL) party. Party\u2019s media resources naturally contribute to the campaign, from OPFL official web-site to personal YouTube channels of its members. \u201cNash\u201d is a channel linked to Yevhenii Muraev \u2013 a leader of a smaller pro-Russian force \u201cNashi\u201d. Both parties are rooted in the pro-Russian \u201cParty of Regions\u201d that was behind 4th<\/sup> President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, deposed in 2014 as a result of Euromaidan and having taken refuge in Russian Federation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although \u201cParty of Regions\u201d as a formal structure has turned into political phantom after 2014 \u2013 majority of its key members joined other forces, trying to disassociate from the former President, and more than 1 million members left the party before June 2014, – it is still informally present in Ukrainian landscape. Personalities such as\u00a0Olena Lukash<\/em>, a Minister of Justice under Yanukovych, and\u00a0Olena Bondarenko<\/em>, an MP during his rule, as one of the most active proponents of \u201cexternal governance\u201d narrative (for example:\u00a01<\/a>,\u00a02<\/a>,\u00a03<\/a>)\u00a0\u00a0receive substantial representation in the local information field. They do so via the abovementioned channels linked to Medvedchuk that frequently invite them as experts and give opportunity to run their own political programs. Same goes for\u00a0Andriy Portnov<\/em>\u00a0\u2013 a Deputy Head of Presidential Administration under Yanukovych, who has recently\u00a0released<\/a>\u00a0a documentary program titled \u201cNew intervention. Everything about external governance of Ukraine<\/em>\u201d. He also hosts a \u201cCrime and Punishment\u201d political show on NewsOne, in addition to his frequent appearances as a guest at NewsOne, 112 and ZIK.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrii Palchevsky<\/em>, a pro-Russian candidate in the upcoming Kyiv local elections [more information on his ties to Moscow and campaign manipulations available\u00a0here<\/a>] also\u00a0spins<\/a>\u00a0this narrative on air of Medvedchuk-linked channels. So does blogger with political ambitions\u00a0Anatolii Shariy<\/em>, who has been publicly\u00a0endorsed<\/a>\u00a0by Medvedchuk himself as an ally in ending \u201cexternal governance and anti-Russian hysteria\u201d. In this particular video he\u00a0insists<\/a>\u00a0that Ukraine will be under \u201cexternal governance\u201d after passing the banking bill. The bill in question, prioritized by IMF, was designed, among other things, to prevent the possible return of Ukraine\u2019s biggest bank PrivatBank to its former owner oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, under whom the institution was close to bankruptcy that would threaten the stability of banking system as a whole. Kolomoisky remains dissatisfied with the case, utilizing his influence to undermine cooperation with IMF and amplify \u201cexternal governance\u201d narrative. He does so by proxy of MPs linked to him such as\u00a0Oleksandr Dubinsky<\/em>, a member of the presidential \u201cServant of the People\u201d party who also\u00a0echoes<\/a>\u00a0the messaging on destructive influence of the West, George Soros and alleged American colonialism.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As Kolomoisky and Medvedchuk have formed a situational anti-Western alliance, Dubinsky, among others, receives substantial amount of air time on 112, ZIK and NewsOne.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These particular speakers are far from constituting an exhaustive list of \u201cexternal governance\u201d proponents. They, however, represent a trend: the narrative is favored by pro-Russian oligarchic forces. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To What End?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It comes as no surprise, then, that the message itself originated in Kremlin. It was one of the top narratives on Ukraine\u00a0promoted<\/a>\u00a0by Russian state-controlled television. It is also not the only case of local agents adapting Russian messages for Ukrainian information space \u2013 another recent example is the case with conspiracy theory on \u201cAmerican military biolabs\u201d in Ukraine that were linked to COVID-19 pandemic. Spread by OPFL and amplified by its media resources, it is a revitalization of the older Russian narrative that targeted laboratories under biological threat reduction program and accused them of developing biological weapons. While Lugar Center in Georgia is the most frequent object of these attacks, institutions in Ukraine have also been high on Moscow\u2019s agenda.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Facilitating \u201cexternal governance\u201d narrative is clearly beneficial for Kremlin as a part of reflexive control<\/strong>. Sewing distrust towards Western partners and supporting local political parties that do so would be helpful to bring Ukraine back into Kremlin\u2019s field of influence \u2013 with the hands of Ukrainian voters themselves. Votes are precisely the focus of this campaign carried out by Moscow-oriented political actors: upcoming local elections are treated with all seriousness as a stepping stone to further advancement in Ukrainian political landscape. Medvedchuk-linked media, individual channels of communication at the disposal of pro-Russian politicians, pro-Russian online media, and anonymous Telegram channels likely administered from the Russian Federation have long been building dissatisfaction in Ukrainian society. They have often made economic struggles a key focus point, disregarding the toll ongoing aggression, among other factors, has on the system and redirecting it to the West and \u201cWestern-imposed\u201d politicians. Further spinning the narrative and building a negative image of American and European partners as \u201ccolonizers\u201d triggers an emotional reaction within the target audience, part of which may not have pro-Russian political views but is deeply disturbed by the perspective of losing the state\u2019s sovereignty. It pushes them towards the force that promises \u201crestoration of independence\u201d \u2013 while its ultimate goal is, ironically, quite the opposite. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ukrainian government tentatively attempts to reestablish trust with International Monetary Fund (IMF), which received a heavy blow after resignation of Yakiv Smolii \u2013 a former head of the National Bank of Ukraine. As his successor does damage control and insists Ukraine will fulfill its obligations in full and on time, these claims trigger different reactions. […] More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":124566,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[700,699,748],"tags":[6206,1124,1082,6347],"section":[726],"form":[31943],"yoast_head":"\nWho Pursues the \u201cExternal Governance\u201d Narrative in Ukraine And Why They Do It | UACRISIS.ORG<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tap to see more Ukrainian government tentatively attempts to reestablish trust with International Monetary Fund (IMF), which received a heavy blow after | Uacrisis.org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/who-pursues-the-external-governance-narrative-in-ukraine-and-why-they-do-it\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who Pursues the \u201cExternal Governance\u201d Narrative in Ukraine And Why They Do It | UACRISIS.ORG\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tap to see more Ukrainian government tentatively attempts to reestablish trust with International Monetary Fund (IMF), which received a heavy blow after | Uacrisis.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/who-pursues-the-external-governance-narrative-in-ukraine-and-why-they-do-it\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uacrisis.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uacrisis\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-08-27T08:10:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-08-27T08:10:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/2020-08-27-External-governance-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@uacrisis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@uacrisis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u041d\u0438\u043a\u0456\u0442\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e \u0412\u0430\u043b\u0435\u0440\u0456\u044f\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Who Pursues the \u201cExternal Governance\u201d Narrative in Ukraine And Why They Do It | UACRISIS.ORG","description":"Tap to see more Ukrainian government tentatively attempts to reestablish trust with International Monetary Fund (IMF), which received a heavy blow after | Uacrisis.org","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/who-pursues-the-external-governance-narrative-in-ukraine-and-why-they-do-it","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Who Pursues the \u201cExternal Governance\u201d Narrative in Ukraine And Why They Do It | UACRISIS.ORG","og_description":"Tap to see more Ukrainian government tentatively attempts to reestablish trust with International Monetary Fund (IMF), which received a heavy blow after | Uacrisis.org","og_url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/who-pursues-the-external-governance-narrative-in-ukraine-and-why-they-do-it","og_site_name":"Uacrisis.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uacrisis\/","article_published_time":"2020-08-27T08:10:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-08-27T08:10:33+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1440,"url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/2020-08-27-External-governance-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@uacrisis","twitter_site":"@uacrisis","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"\u041d\u0438\u043a\u0456\u0442\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e \u0412\u0430\u043b\u0435\u0440\u0456\u044f","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#organization","name":"Ukraine crisis media center","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/uacrisis\/","http:\/\/youtube.com\/UACrisisMediaCenter","https:\/\/twitter.com\/uacrisis"],"logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#logo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/header_logo-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/header_logo-1.png","width":250,"height":90,"caption":"Ukraine crisis media center"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#logo"}},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/","name":"Uacrisis.org","description":"Ukraine crisis media center","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/who-pursues-the-external-governance-narrative-in-ukraine-and-why-they-do-it#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/2020-08-27-External-governance-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/2020-08-27-External-governance-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1440,"caption":"\"External governance\" Russian Disinfo Narrative Spread in Ukraine"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/who-pursues-the-external-governance-narrative-in-ukraine-and-why-they-do-it#webpage","url":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/who-pursues-the-external-governance-narrative-in-ukraine-and-why-they-do-it","name":"Who Pursues the \u201cExternal Governance\u201d Narrative in Ukraine And Why They Do It | UACRISIS.ORG","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/who-pursues-the-external-governance-narrative-in-ukraine-and-why-they-do-it#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2020-08-27T08:10:31+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-27T08:10:33+00:00","description":"Tap to see more Ukrainian government tentatively attempts to reestablish trust with International Monetary Fund (IMF), which received a heavy blow after | Uacrisis.org","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/who-pursues-the-external-governance-narrative-in-ukraine-and-why-they-do-it#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/who-pursues-the-external-governance-narrative-in-ukraine-and-why-they-do-it"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/who-pursues-the-external-governance-narrative-in-ukraine-and-why-they-do-it#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0438\u0446\u0430","item":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Who Pursues the \u201cExternal Governance\u201d Narrative in Ukraine And Why They Do It"}]},{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/who-pursues-the-external-governance-narrative-in-ukraine-and-why-they-do-it#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/who-pursues-the-external-governance-narrative-in-ukraine-and-why-they-do-it#webpage"},"author":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/fbe3036e2b414fe1147a3706f696918a"},"headline":"Who Pursues the \u201cExternal Governance\u201d Narrative in Ukraine And Why They Do It","datePublished":"2020-08-27T08:10:31+00:00","dateModified":"2020-08-27T08:10:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/who-pursues-the-external-governance-narrative-in-ukraine-and-why-they-do-it#webpage"},"wordCount":1390,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/who-pursues-the-external-governance-narrative-in-ukraine-and-why-they-do-it#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/2020-08-27-External-governance-scaled.jpg","keywords":["Kremlin Narratives","Ukraine","USA","\u0420\u043e\u0441\u0456\u044f"],"articleSection":["Information war","Politics","Society"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/fbe3036e2b414fe1147a3706f696918a","name":"\u041d\u0438\u043a\u0456\u0442\u0435\u043d\u043a\u043e \u0412\u0430\u043b\u0435\u0440\u0456\u044f"}]}},"wps_subtitle":"","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124565"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124565"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=124565"},{"taxonomy":"form","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uacrisis.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/form?post=124565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}