“It is state treason” to engage international experts in the selection of members of the High Qualification Commission of Judges, claims Yevhen Murayev. He is a former member of parliament in the pro-Kremlin Party of Regions and Opposition Bloc factions. Now Murayev is the beneficial owner of TV channel Nash. After the closure of Viktor Medvedchuk’s channels, Nash became the new champion of spreading anti-Western narratives on Ukrainian television, according to the media watchdog Detector Media.
Murayev sits in the studio of the show “Hard with Vlashchenko,” which is aired on the TV channel “Ukrayina 24” controlled by oligarch Rinat Akhmetov. Murayev is talking about reforms. The interview in question took place on June 30, a day after Ukrainian lawmakers adopted draft law No. 3711-d in full. The bill relaunches one of the two judicial governance bodies (the High Qualification Commission of Judges) and empowers international experts with a crucial say in the selections of new commission members.
The whole show lasts for one hour and should you wish, you can watch it here. But allow me to focus on the four-minute segment about judicial reform. Murayev voices a long list of Kremlin anti-Western and anti-reform cliches and talking points. The anchor Natalia Vlashchenko not only does not stop him, but poses suggestive questions.
First, he appeals to the long fight of the Ukrainian people for independence and scorns that Ukraine is giving up control over one of the three branches of government, the judicial vertical, to “some foreign experts who financed ‘Shabunins’ and others,” referring to Vitaliy Shabunin, the head of the board of directors of the Anti-Corruption Action Center in Kyiv.
He then moves to the National Bank of Ukraine, though it has no relation to the initial question. He claims that the bank is under the “full control of the IMF officers,” that “our economy is run overseas” and “we gave up part of our sovereignty,” he argues. Murayev also questions the efficiency of international members at supervisory boards of state-owned enterprises.
Murayev’s speech culminates with what may sound like sincere ignorance “are Americans so rich that without knowing where Ukraine is they give their taxpayers’ money to build democracy here?” And finally here comes the answer: “it is an international raiding attack. Using this money they push through political conditions. Now they will take the judiciary under control and will ease the entry of transnational corporations here which will buy up our land, buy up strategic enterprises”.
It appears that all the boxes have been ticked in terms of talking points. Altogether they correspond with the key narrative spread personally by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who on the same day, June 30 stated that “Zelensky put Ukraine under full external governance.”
Such an interview is not an accident or coincidence on the “Ukrayina 24” channel. Detector Media informs that opinion programs of Natalia Vlashchenko (former general producer at Zik), Vasyl Golovanov (former general producer at NewsOne) and Tigran Martyrosian (former head of “Nash”) regularly have anti-Western, especially anti-American, propaganda-spreading guests. It is worth stressing separately that these shows are among the channel’s most popular and have good coverage as “Ukrayina 24” itself is a leading news channel among the adult audience all over the country.
What do we get in the end?
Akhmetov’s widely-watched channel contributes to undermining people’s trust in the country’s democratization and the ability of international partners to push reforms forward, making Ukrainians believe international partners’ only interest in Ukraine is to exploit our resources.
However, unlike his TV channel, Akhmetov personally and his companies are OK with more Western presence in Ukraine. They benefit from doing business in the “evil” West. Just a reminder that he owns coal mines in the U.S. His DTEK company cooperates with foreign entities to jointly implement green energy projects and borrows from the European loan market and European banks. Akhmetov recently bought a mansion on the French Riviera.
If Akhmetov’s TV channel regularly promotes anti-Western narratives, probably the West has to stop doing business with his companies? Do Western investors accept the fact that they are indirectly contributing to the spread of Putin’s propaganda among millions of Ukrainians? Are they ok with the communicative destruction of key reforms international partners constantly ask Ukrainians to do?
Deoligarchization is now at the top of the agenda due to Zelensky’s recent legislative initiatives. However, let’s not forget that its success will depend not only on domestic efforts. The responsibility also lies with Western partners who should stop tolerating anti-reform propaganda spreaders.
Olena Halushka is a board member at the Anti-Corruption Action Center in Kyiv.
