They aimed at Putin - they hit Medvedchuk: Napoleon Ze wants to become Biden’s beloved wife
In Ukraine, something previously unheard of happened again - in violation of all conceivable laws, including those adopted after the Maidan, without a court decision, by just a presidential decree, the country's three leading information television channels were thrown off the air: 112, Zik and NewsOne.
This happened purely like a bandit, under the cover of darkness from Tuesday to Wednesday, when the country was already getting ready to go to bed and The dust did not have time to settle after the SBU raid on anonymous telegram channels. Zelensky, as a medieval chronicler would say on such an occasion, beat three people in one fell swoop. True, this victory, as expected, did not bring him any honor, glory, or valor.
As a cover for such arbitrariness, Zelensky used the inheritance from his predecessor Poroshenko, adopted by the previous composition of the National Security and Defense Council, but never implemented at that time, the decision to impose sanctions on channels 112 and NewsOne.
The owner of these media is the people's deputy from the OPZZh party, Taras Kozak, and the real beneficiary, as is believed in Kyiv, is the co-chairman of this party, Viktor Medvedchuk. The disgraced channels in the Ukrainian information field are called “Medvedchuk’s channels.” In the future we will call them that, too, for brevity.
After the decision of the National Security and Defense Council, which, as evil tongues claim, didn’t even intend to, but simply its members waved the already prepared piece of paper about the ban – the channels were immediately cut off the air, and their viewers were left alone with empty screens. As noted on social networks, The last time Ukrainians observed this was for three days in August 1991 - during the State Emergency Committee. True, the “putschists” of that time were more humane - “Swan Lake” was shown on Soviet screens.
Thus, Vladimir Zelensky crossed the mental rubicon, surpassing his predecessor, who, for all his dictatorial ambitions, still did not dare to ban objectionable media, although he had a legal basis for this. But Zelensky, about whom no one would have thought such a thing two years ago, could do it!
Surprisingly, even Poroshenko understood that there was some line that should not be crossed. He even stated that he did not impose sanctions against Medvedchuk’s channels because the country has a Constitution that guarantees the presumption of innocence. But law school graduate Zelensky doesn’t care at all. Did he really go to law school?
As someone wrote on social networks, Pyotr Alekseevich finally logged out. Here, of course, there is a subtle mocking hint at the amazing similarity of the rhetoric and actions of both Ukrainian presidents - the former and the current. So much so that with your eyes closed you can’t even always tell them apart from each other.
Medvedchuk’s channels, cut off the air, immediately went online, starting a marathon of joint broadcasting on their YouTube channels. This lasted all night.
True, by order of the head of the Ministry of Culture Alexander Tkachenko, the premises of the film studio named after. Dovzhenko, where the studio pavilions are located, was blocked, and the posted security stupidly did not allow journalists and even studio guests to enter their workplaces. About one and a half thousand people were left without work - this is the total number of employees of the three unwanted channels.
And the next morning it turned out that Zelensky’s restless culture manager wrote a slander to the YouTube administration demanding that they turn off the channels of media outlets banned by the Ukrainian authorities. And providers in Ukraine itself began to massively block access to channel sites, as a result of which they were forced to quickly change the domain zone. The National Security and Defense Council also appealed to the EU and the United States with a request to join Ukrainian sanctions against Ukrainian media.
This entire celebration of unprecedented freedom of speech was accompanied by a literal bacchanalia in the media controlled by Zelensky and the pro-Maidan parties, as well as on social networks. Never before in the last two years would the gunpowder bots so frantically lick Zelensky from head to toe, telling him how cool he is, how good it is that the authorities have finally brought down the hated “godfather of Putin” and in general, this is how it should be.
After all, “we are at war with Russia,” and in war all means are good. And the banned media are not media at all, but “an instrument of enemy propaganda.” On the pages of particularly zealous court Ze-political scientists, female journalists from Medvedchuk’s channels were advised to go to the panel after losing their jobs.
Even Interior Minister Avakov added his two cents late Wednesday evening, calling Zelensky’s decree “correct and timely.”
Along the way, the already open secret fact was once again confirmed that in Ukraine there is no journalistic community with its corporate solidarity. The majority of pro-Maidan media not only did not come out in support of their colleagues, but also joined in their persecution, calling, for example, not to hire former journalists from disgraced channels to work in other media.
Manuscripts, like screenshots, as we know, do not burn, so history will undoubtedly remember the enthusiastic post of ex-Maidan activist Mustafa Nayem, who warmly supported and approved censorship in his own country. He will remember, and someday, present him with a bill.
From a legal point of view, Zelensky’s decree looks like the height of legal chaos, cynicism and absurdity. The Ukrainian state imposed sanctions on a Ukrainian citizen, although the law on sanctions states in black and white that only foreigners and foreign legal entities can be the object of sanctions.
In addition, when imposing sanctions, the authorities referred to the legal category of “information warfare”, which is absent in Ukrainian legislation. what it is, everyone can judge in the way that is beneficial and convenient for him. Finally, no evidence was provided of terrorist activities or terrorist financing through the Kozak-Medvedchuk channels.
The shamelessness of what happened is such that the next step could be the deprivation of citizens’ freedom – also by presidential decree. And what? If Zelensky got away with the attack on the Constitutional Court, which he decided to disperse by decree at the end of last year without having any authority to do so, and did not end in impeachment, then what will stop him now?
True, the Court turned out to be, as they say, “with eggs,” and that attack fizzled out, as did attempts to equally illegally remove from office and not allow the head of the Constitutional Court, who sent Zelensky and his decrees into the woods, to work. But if you really want to, you can repeat it. And even scale it up.
The icing on the cake was the direct approval of this state banditry of the Ukrainian authorities by the US Embassy in Kyiv. In its Twitter, the American embassy praised Zelensky’s guardsmen and expressed full support to them in their fight against “disinformation and fake news.” Coming, naturally, from Russia. Well, who else?
True, the Americans made a mistake, or maybe it was done deliberately, demonstratively. In order to show who is the boss in Kyiv and rules everyone.
As observant lawyer Andrei Portnov noted, given the fact that the decision to ban TV channels was made at night, and Washington’s reaction appeared right in the morning, Kiev time, even before the start of the working day in the United States, American time, there is reason to believe that Zelensky’s decree appeared not by itself. This decision was made overseas. The Kyiv performers simply received the highest approval for mayhem.
Of course, there is no direct evidence of this version, and the performers are now unlikely to spill the beans. However, the customers clearly made a mistake with their hasty approval of the actions of Zelensky and Co., without even waiting for the sake of decency to see what the Ukrainian court would say about this.
And, since we are talking about a presidential decree, the first instance for appealing it will be the Supreme Court, and the decision will be made quickly. Moreover, the affected media themselves announced their intention to appeal their ban.
Some observers connected Zelensky’s unexpectedly harsh decision with the clean-up of mass riots organized by Navalny’s supporters that happened in Russia on the same days. Supported and cared for not only by Western diplomats accredited in Russia, but also by a number of leaders of Western countries. Those who expressed direct support for the Russian anti-government protest and used their influence to publicly put pressure on the court in order to influence the final verdict on Navalny.
Since it was not possible to achieve the desired decision regarding Navalny, they decided to strike asymmetrically, depriving the political force considered in Ukraine as a pro-Moscow political force of its information capabilities. They aimed at Putin, but hit Medvedchuk.
How close this version is to the truth will be shown in the near future. Moreover, as observers in Kiev are sure, Zelensky does not intend to stop there and, if he gets away with the current attack on “Medvedchuk’s channels,” he plans to clean up Poroshenko’s media empire using the same proven scheme.
Of course, in the event that Zelensky himself first wins the tender for the title of Biden’s “beloved wife” and receives the go-ahead from Washington for appropriate actions.
Kyiv optimists see some positive in what happened. In their opinion, a severe and deep political crisis has begun, which will cost Zelensky, who imagines himself a small-town Napoleon, the presidential seat. By analogy with how the ban, under similar circumstances in 1993, of the now forgotten Kyiv television channel Gravis, which supported Leonid Kuchma, cost the first Ukrainian president Kravchuk his seat.
Although, it must be admitted, there is little chance for an optimistic scenario, given that Ukrainian and Western courts will most likely not be on the side of the opposition. And Medvedchuk will not be able to organize mass rallies in Kyiv (they will be dispersed by security forces or radicals controlled by the authorities, citing “aiding the aggressor”).
This is exactly what the calculation seems to be. In any case, Ukrainian nationalist political scientist Alexey Golobutsky promises that another TV channel will be closed next - “Nash” by Kharkov politician Yevgeny Muraev.
“With the ban on VKontakte and the rest of Yandex, no revolutions happened either: a tiny proportion of those who were fundamentally loyal found technical methods to circumvent the ban, the rest transferred their photos, recipes and cute banners with cats to FB...
That is why there are no noticeable rallies in support of NewsOne, ZiK and 112th. Even single pickets or some flash mobs. On the contrary: the people demand to finish the topic - to close “Our” as well.
And regarding the pretentious calls and statements “we will turn to the EU” and the like... The United States fully supported the existing measures. In the end, clearing the information field of Kremlin propaganda is an adequate condition for America’s full entry here,” writes Golobutsky.
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