Zelensky Follows British Orders

April 18 , 2021 (EIRNS)—On April 13, the Daily Mirror tabloid ran a story ridiculing Russian state TV for a broadcast during which the on-air principals claimed that “MI6 is conniving with Ukraine to trigger a bloody new war in Europe.” The allegations, the Mirror went on, “appear to be a bizarre bid to justify Vladimir Putin massing forces on the frontiers of its close neighbor, and in the strategic Black Sea.”

The Russian guest, one Sergey Kurginyan, charges that British intelligence “has become a dominant force” in Ukraine. Referring to MI6 Chief Richard Moore, he alleged Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky was obediently following a British playbook towards conflict. “If continental Europe is a bit scared of potential accidents, these ones (the British) don’t give a damn, and they continuously push for exacerbation,” Kurginyan is reported to have said. Zelensky “is eating out of their hands,” claimed Kurginyan, and, “Since everything is anyway collapsing around them, they prefer to go in the situation of conflict.”

The funny thing about this is that when he visited London last October, Zelensky had a meeting with Richard Moore. The 112.International news site (a media which opposes the Kiev government) published an extensive report, (originally published in strana.ua), on it, but the fact of the meeting was first leaked by the British press, at which point, Zelensky publicly admitted to it.

“Of the entire volume of questions from our long two-hour meeting, most were information about helping and protecting our sovereignty and territorial integrity. I cannot spread the details,” Zelensky admitted, the 112.International account says. According to him, one of the topics was countering disinformation and fake news. “They just said that we have a big problem with the fact that the media are funded not only by Ukrainians. That in Ukraine, unfortunately, many of the TV channels that we know are funded by various groups,” the President said. This referred not to Radio Free Europe of the CIA, but opposition channels owned by Opposition Platform— For Life leader Viktor Medvedchuk’s associate Taras Kozak (Zik, 112, NewsOne). They are constantly accused of allegedly being financed by Russia, which the channels themselves call a lie and an attempt to justify the pressure of the authorities.

After he returned from London last October Zelensky took a number of steps, the third of which was on the topic of military assistance from the U.K. and the U.S. (the first two concerned control of anti-corruption agencies and the central bank). Zelensky apparently began talking up the idea of using the Budapest Memorandum, the 1994 document which provided security guarantees to Ukraine in return for giving up the nuclear weapons that remained on its territory after the fall of the Soviet Union, to seek military assistance from the U.S. and Britain.

Zelensky also went to Ankara shortly after his trip to London. Richard Moore is a specialist in Turkey, speaks fluent Turkish, having been ambassador there before he was the head of MI6. In Ankara, Zelensky and Erdogan discussed the creation of a kind of “Crimean platform”—an international alliance, which, according to Kiev, can help “return” Crimea. “And we hope for a serious role of Turkey in this issue. After all, is it possible to solve something without Turkey in our region? Of course not,” Zelensky said. It will be recalled that Zelensky was in Turkey again just a week ago and met with Erdogan, but in Istanbul, not the capital.

With respect to broadcast media not under the control of the Kiev regime or the West, Zelensky is also apparently following British orders. On Feb. 20, Zelensky signed a decree imposing sanctions approved by the National Security and Defense Council on Medvedchuk, his wife and six other individuals associated with him, reported 112.International. Earlier, on Feb. 2, Zelensky signed a decree on the application of sanctions against the TV channels 112 Ukraine, NewsOne and Zik. According to the decree, which came into force from the moment of signing, sanctions were applied to TV channels for five years. This provides for blocking the broadcasting of all three TV channels.

Taras Kozak, the owner of the Novyny holding company which owns the three broadcast channels, blasted the Feb. 2 decree as “a political reprisal” by Zelensky. “President is simply enraged because of the collapse of the rating of his political force Servant of the People, which now takes 4th place on the list, while Opposition Platform—For Life, which I represent, has been heading the rating of Ukrainians’ sympathies for a long time,” he said.

“It is not surprising, because 112 Ukraine TV channel shows Ukraine in which we live: Ukraine with exorbitant bills, large-scale corruption, sold for a penny to foreigners. Zelensky, who clearly lives in his videos, personally put Ukraine on one level with poor countries of the world, in which vaccination against coronavirus has not yet begun, hoping for a handout from the West while the channels of Novyny media holding openly and without fear are saying that it is possible to already start vaccination.”