Derogatory Attacks that Zelenskyy Banned the Opposition, Oppresses the Church and Refuses to Organize Elections

Photo: president.gov.ua

The post accuses Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of oppressing the media, language, and Church and that he does not want to organize elections. The truth, however, is that the Ukrainian Constitution bans organizing elections in martial law. When one claims that Zelenskyy ”has banned the opposition”, he/she is omitting to say that the opposition is connected with Russia and that those parties are forbidden in Ukraine due to the Russian military invasion of Ukraine. In addition, a well-known fact is that in the Ukrainian Church of Moscow Patriarchate, Russian propaganda is being spread, activities of hostile services are being covered and Russian agents are being recruited

 

We are fact-checking a post published on the social network Facebook claiming the following:

He banned the opposition, oppressed the Church, monopolized the media, abused the language, imprisoned the journalists

Now he refuses to hold elections.

This is the freedom for which NATO bankrupted Europe; this is Zelenskyy.

When one claims that Zelenskyy has ”banned the opposition”, he/she is omitting to say that the opposition is connected with Russia and that the reason why political parties connected and linked to Russia were forbidden in Ukraine was that Russia undertook an aggressive invasion in Ukraine with numerous casualties, including civilians. As reported by The Guardian, political parties were not banned because they were oppositional, but because they were linked to Russia, which in case of a military invasion can be treated as national security or even protection. Political parties were not prohibited in peaceful conditions, but in conditions of war when national security is the primary aim of Ukraine. The National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine convened and decided to ban the political activities of these parties. Most of the parties affected were small, but one of them, the Opposition Platform for Life, has 44 seats in the 450-seat Ukrainian Parliament.

The activities of those politicians aimed at division or collusion will not succeed, but will receive harsh response. Therefore, the National Security and Defence Council, given the full-scale war unleashed by Russia and the political ties that a number of political structures have with this State, to suspend any activity of a number of political parties for the period of martial law, stated Zelenskyy in March 2022.

The Opposition Platform for Life, Ukraine’s biggest opposition party, is led by Viktor Medvedchuk, a pro-Moscow oligarch with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2021, the Ukrainian authorities charged Medvedchuk, a longtime ally of Putin (believed to be the godfather of Medvedchuk’s daughter) with treason and placed the oligarch under house arrest, a move that angered the Kremlin. Later on, Ukraine reported that Medvedchuk escaped house arrest three days after Russia started its invasion of Ukraine, only to be re-arrested and finally swapped for 215 Ukrainian soldiers imprisoned by Russia during the aggression in Ukraine.

The list of banned parties also included the Nashi (Ours) party, led by Yevhen Murayev, as well as several smaller parties not represented in the Parliament. Before the start of the war, British intelligence claimed that Russia was considering installing Murayev to lead a Kremlin-controlled puppet government in Kyiv, claims that Murayev strongly denied.

Due to these circumstances, one cannot claim that Zelenskyy banned the opposition because it was an opposition. These political parties were banned because they were suspected for being controlled or linked to a country that performed a military invasion in Ukraine. Their political activities will be frozen until the military invasion lasts.

The post fact-checked claims that Zelenskyy oppressed the Church. Zelenskyy, however, accused the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which is under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church, of undermining Ukrainian unity and cooperating with Moscow. Again, the military invasion performed by Russia in Ukraine is the reason why cooperation with Russia cannot be tolerated in the period of martial law conditions to protect national security.

We will continue this movement. We will not allow the terrorist state any opportunity to manipulate the spiritual life of our people, to destroy Ukrainian shrines or to steal values from them, said Zelenskyy.

Patriarch Kirill openly supports the military invasion of Russia in Ukraine. As previously reported, Zelenskyy is defending Ukraine from Russian propaganda in churches.

Professor Viktor Yelensky said to CNN that for more than 30 years the leadership of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Moscow Patriarchate has been ”poisoning people with the idea of the Russian world”. He defends the church searches performed by the Security Services as part of the suppression of Islamic extremism after 11^th September 2001.

Spravdi, the Centre for Strategic Communication under the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine revealed that the Ukrainian Church of the Moscow Patriarchаte is spreading Russian propaganda, covering activities of hostile services and recruiting Russian agents. Zelenskyy is not prosecuting Orthodox Christians in Ukraine, nor is he oppressing the Church. The majority population of Ukraine is Orthodox and Orthodox churches will be there.

Regarding the claim that Zelenskyy is monopolizing the media, one needs to mention that in 2021, upon his request, three television outlets were sanctioned: News One, Channel 112 and ZIK belonging to Taras Kozak, who is believed to be the front for Viktor Medvedchuk. The sanctions were applied in compliance with the 2014 Law that provides for Ukrainian subjects to be sanctioned if they pose a threat to Ukrainian national interests. These were the channels broadcasting Kremlin propaganda.

Mass media in Ukraine are owned by the State and corporations that rely on advertisements, subscriptions and sales. Ukrainian Constitution guarantees freedom od speech. The Ukrainian media system is in the process of transition. As specified by BBC, in the beginning of the military invasion, the media in Ukraine stood on the patriot side.

BBC stresses that a large number of media exist in Ukraine, hence it could not be true that Zelenskyy is monopolizing the media.

Concerning the fact that Zelenskyy was abusing the Russian language, fact-checkers from EUvsDisinfo, claim that that is not true:

The claim about the language rights of Russians in Ukraine being violated is false. On 25 April 2019, the Verkhovna Rada passed the law on ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as a state language. Russian, as well as other languages, can be used in private communication, religious ceremonies, press, book publishing, etc. The law also allows the use of other languages in the healthcare system and law enforcement.

According to EUvsDisinfo, 27 percent of the Ukrainian citizens use the Russian language in their everyday communication, the Ukrainian language is preferred by 51 percent of the Ukrainians, while 21 percent are bilingual.

Regarding the claim in the post that Zelenskyy refused to hold elections, this is disinformation because the Ukrainian Constitution does not provide for elections in a period of martial law conditions!

Martial law was declared in February 2022 since Russia attacked Ukraine. Therefore, it is not Zelenskyy that does not allow holding elections in a period of martial law conditions, but the Ukrainian Constitution.

The part of the post specifying that NATO bankrupted Europe for such freedom is expressed irony. NATO, however, is not in direct military conflict with Russia, but simply defending the right of Ukraine to defend itself from military aggression. Therefore, NATO’s actions are defensive, and protective, designed not to provoke, but to prevent conflict. The Alliance is responsible for making sure that the war does not escalate beyond Ukraine, which would be even more disastrous and dangerous.

Due to all the above-noted facts, the fact-checked post is assessed as untrue.

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