Editor’s Note: This feature separates Ukraine’s friends from its enemies. The Order of Yaroslav the Wise has been given since 1995 for distinguished service to the nation. It is named after the Kyivan Rus leader from 1019-1054, when the medieval empire reached its zenith. The Order of Lenin was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union, whose demise Russian President Vladimir Putin mourns. It is named after Vladimir Lenin, whose corpse still rots on the Kremlin’s Red Square, more than 100 years after the October Revolution he led.
Ukraine’s Friend of the Week: Ivars Abolins, the chairman with Latvia’s National Electronic Mass Media Council
The Kremlin’s aggressive propaganda machine has been one gut punch after another.
After Ukraine banned several TV channels associated with pro-Kremlin power broker Viktor Medvedchuk on Feb. 2, triggering an eruption of rage in Moscow, the next strike came in from the Baltics, Ukraine’s constant allies.
Latvia followed Ukraine’s example. The country’s National Electronic Mass Media Council (NEPLP) effectively blocked over 20 Russian TV channels in its territory.
The ban swept out all of Russia’s largest TV networks, including NTV, Channel One, and Ren TV.
On Feb. 8, the council particularly suspended Russia RTR channel saying that the channel’s content spreads hatred, violence, and war propaganda, especially aimed at Ukraine.
The other eliminated channels were heavy on propaganda too. Their content includes talk shows in which Ukraine is called a Nazi terrorist country that needs to be dealt with.
“Assessing the narrative of the program as a whole, it can be concluded that it is derogatory to the Ukrainian people,” the council decree reads.
“Such expressions are disseminated by the participants of the discussion and these expressions, which are important, inadmissible and not editorially justifiable,” the council stated. “These expressions are also disseminated by the journalists of the electronic media.”
This statement is so true that there’s barely anything left to say.
The Kremlin has turned its aggressive propaganda into a multibillion industry that helps destroy democratic nations and kill people in the Kremlin wars.
This evil force mimicking journalism and abusing the freedom of speech needs to be fought.
Our Latvian friends have given a strong signal that they stand with us in this difficult situation.
As a thank you to Latvia for the strong political will of its government, the Kyiv Post declares the council’s chairman Ivars Abolins Ukraine’s Friend of the Week.
Ukraine’s Foe of the Week: Josep Borrell, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs.
And while small nations demonstrate cohesion and resolve in resisting the Russian threat, the big movers and shakers of Europe show disappointing weakness.
This week, Josep Borrell, the European Union’s top diplomat, was caught in the crossfire of devastating criticism in Western media over his Feb. 5 visit to Moscow.
According to numerous reports from the visit, it was a pathetic sight to see.
Borrell appeared to be almost comically unprepared and reluctant to challenge the Kremlin. Just days before the visit, Russian authorities arrested Alexei Navalny, the top critic of President Vladimir Putin of Russia.
According to Politico, Borrell did not even have a clear agenda, apart from saying that “it was important to pursue dialogue” and “put aside negative rhetoric.”
With such a weak stance, Borrell should have seen it coming — he was laughed at and humiliated by Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov during their joint presser.
The Pro-Kremlin press pool scoffed at him by asking ridiculous, irrelevant questions about American policies towards Cuba. Lavrov openly accused the West of lying about the Navaly poisoning case and called the EU “an unreliable partner.”
According to reports, Borrell was only capable of standing silently and forcing a smile, saying he hoped the EU would try and find “a new path” towards understanding Moscow during a March summit.
He also ended up expressing his regular “deep concern” regarding the Navalny case and called on the Kremlin to “launch an impartial investigation of his poisoning.”
No wonder that, according to latest reports, some 80 European Parliament members on Feb. 10 publicly called this “the Moscow humiliation” and sought Borrell’s resignation.
This toothless and effete bureaucracy of the once strong and united Europe has again demonstrated its impotence to stand against truly complicated challenges and uphold its values.
Such a spineless stance in the face of the Kremlin only invites it to raise the stakes in its game to undermine the democratic West.
Ukraine is one of the most obvious victims of this aggression, which is tolerated by weak leaders like Borrell.
Therefore, the Kyiv Post has no choice but to declare Borrell to be Ukraine’s Foe of the Week — again.
