EuroNews campaigns for impostor in Ukrainian election

Airing Viktor Yushchenko's address to European leaders, EuroNews channel did not mention something important

EuroNews television channel has joined the agitation campaign to destabilize the political situation in Ukraine. The pseudo-winner of the second stage of the presidential election of the former Soviet republic, Viktor Yushchenko, appeared on the air of the channel and addressed to the leaders of European states. It is noteworthy that Russian version of the channel presented the address as an “exclusive interview.” It brings up a question of the European channel's competence in defining the difference of journalistic genres. Does it see any difference between propaganda and agitation and informing viewers about current events?

Yushchenko spoke in a typical rhetoric style of the opposition, having read out a written text. The opposition leader stated that Europe must not let the attempts of the coup d'etat continue. He added that there had been 11,000 violations registered during the election process in West Ukraine (which stands out for its “incorrect” position to the former presidential candidate), and that the Ukrainian nation was ready to support him, the oppositionist, previously dismissed by President Kuchma from the post of Ukraine's prime minister.

Yushchenko also informed European TV viewers of Ukrainians' rebirth: “They have become different people in just several weeks. When it snows, when it's cold and damp, 200-300 thousand people stay outside on the central square of Kiev – can you imagine that? The people demand only one thing: they want to hold honest and democratic elections,” Yushchenko said.

Yushchenko did not say anything about the spending on that, of course. Ukrainian news agency New Region-Crimea reports, that each of those people, who stay out on the square, receives the fee of eight hryvnas (about $1.5) for a day of standing. It is easy to calculate that one day of the meeting (with 250,000 people) in Yushchenko's support costs over $370 thousand. This is quite a good investment in the politician, who suffers from serious chronic diseases. The opposition candidate may obviously become a wreck that ruled Russia before Putin.

It goes without saying that EuroNews will not say it on the air, because the data about the funding of meetings does not go with the policy of the channel, defined by a certain customer. One may not doubt that it has been determined as the policy of propaganda to support Viktor Yushchenko. The official website of the channel published the information about the Ukrainian Central Electoral Committee announcing Viktor Yanukovich the winner of the pre-election presidential race. The story about it, however, was illustrated with Viktor Yushchenko's photograph.

It is a question of a different matter, though. The Russian state television is a co-founder of EuroNews. That is why the European channel takes the majority of time on the air. RTR, one of Russia's central TV networks, participates in the organization of the European broadcasting in order to present Russia's views in the programs. However, the election situation in Ukraine makes it obvious that EuroNews's propaganda may differ from its founder's stance on certain principal issues. The propaganda of the views of the channel's secret sponsors will be spread among Russians. A variety of opinions is definitely good, but in this case EuroNews did not reflect the stance of the other presidential candidate, who actually won the election. The European television channel might interfere in Russia's internal policy in a similar way. It is possible that there will be a presidential candidate in Russia, whose family will hold a foreign citizenship.

As far as Viktor Yushchenko's address to the leaders of European states is concerned, one may notice the following thing about it. In addition to the fact that he pronounced himself the new Ukrainian president, Viktor Yushchenko addressed to his pseudo-colleagues in the Russian language. It is definitely a pleasant aspect for me, as a Russian citizen. However, as a person, who respects Slavic brethren, I feel ashamed that the politician, who took part but failed in the second stage of the presidential election, does not respect the state language of his own country. It is not only about respect, though. Yushchenko is the ex-prime minister of Ukraine: he is supposed to be aware of regulations, which oblige a head of state to express opinions in the official language of his state.

Such a phenomenon, when foreign countries push oppositionists into power, is not new for Russia, though. A similar occurrence took place in Russia not long ago, when Europe and the USA supported a certain candidate. When he took the office of the Russian president, he worked as a clown for Europe and America. That is why it seems to me that Yushchenko and everything that is happening to him at the moment bears some resemblance to what Russia experienced in the beginning of the 1990s. In general, I feel sorry for Ukrainians.

Pyotr Ermilin