Russian propagandists constantly and systematically use the topic of corruption in Ukraine. News about the “most corrupt state of Ukraine”, which will destroy itself, was in the Russian media ten, five or two years ago. That is, the topic of corruption in Ukraine is one of the most common narratives of Russian propaganda. Russia uses corruption scandals in Ukraine to discredit it. In particular, Russian propaganda assures that corruption is the ideology of the Ukrainian people. It seems that corruption permeates Ukrainian society: from education, medicine, services, sports to the level of law enforcement officers, courts, municipal and central authorities.

Russian propagandists argue that if Ukraine still somehow struggled with corruption, into which it slipped after the collapse of the Soviet Union, at the beginning of the 2000s, then after the Euromaidan it is gone. According to propaganda, after 2014 Ukraine has slid to the level of Latin American states that are under the destructive influence of kleptocracy. After 2014, a number of anti-corruption agencies appeared in Ukraine, and propaganda sources were skeptical about this trend and decided that Ukrainians were monkeying with the American model, even a foreigner was appointed deputy head of NABU. Propagandists often cited then U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt, who suggested that corruption is sometimes worse than Russian tanks. They also speculated on the words of the then Vice President Joe Biden, who called corruption in Ukraine a cancer. It seems that corruption sits too deep in the liver of the West. It seems like a few more things will happen and it will stop supporting Ukraine.

The constant focus on the corruption of the authorities causes society, on the one hand, to distrust the leadership of the state and state institutions, and on the other hand, to the effectiveness of the fight against corruption on the way to membership in the EU and NATO. Russian propaganda here works at the same time for the domestic consumer: it demonstrates the absurdity of Ukraine, which the West is about to “throw”. Like, one sees what the game of democracy and European integration leads to. Russian propaganda also promotes messages to the Ukrainian audience, trying to affirm the opinion that the system of power in Ukraine is so rotten that nothing can change it; the state has no future, let alone the prospects for membership in the EU or NATO.

Russian propaganda systematically speculates on anti-corruption investigations by Ukrainian journalists and public figures into alleged corruption in the Ministry of Defense. The most famous case was the possible overpricing of food purchases, including chicken eggs. Recently, propagandists have been hyping the topic of non-critical spending of the state and local budgets during the war. They are trying to add a corruption component to these costs, even where it does not exist.

However, when writing about corruption in Ukraine and the fact that our state seems to have no chance for the future because of this, Russian propaganda avoids mentioning corruption in Russia. For example, from January to July 2021, 24.5 thousand cases of corruption were recorded in Russia. In 2017, the head of the Russian Accounts Chamber, Oleksii Kudrin, said that the department had identified a violation of 1.865 trillion rubles. That is, there is also corruption in Russia, moreover, there is also a fight against it. For example, opposition leader Oleksii Navalnyi “stepped on the Kremlin's toes” by making a series of high-profile revelations of large-scale corruption acts of officials, for which he was imprisoned. Also, Russian propaganda avoids mentioning that even in the conditions of a full-scale war, Ukraine is trying to fight corruption.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that a banner advertising Volodymyr Zelenskyi was installed in New York with the inscription: “I made 10 times more than a Barbie movie”. The authors add photo evidence to the messages. It is not true.

Fact-checkers of the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council determined that such a banner does not exist. The propagandists used a real photo of the banner and put a photo of Zelenskyi on it. Specialists of the Consulate General of Ukraine in New York confirmed to fact-checkers that the banner about Zelenskyi is not real, and explained what is now depicted on it: an advertisement for the Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter Exhibition.

Thus, propagandists seek to show that their rhetoric is also repeated in the West, so that people get the impression that the whole world is opposed to Ukraine and supports Russia.

Such information was disseminated on social networks and propaganda media. Reports say Ukraine plans to ban Tetris because it was developed by a Russian engineer and “Ukraine sees everything as propaganda”. The authors refer to the French edition of 20 minutes and add video evidence. It is not true.

The fact-checkers of the StopFake project drew attention to the case, and they explained that they did not find any information about the subject of the Tetris ban on the official website of the publication. Moreover, not a single government agency of Ukraine has come out with a statement on the so-called “ban”. So the propagandists just dropped this message without proof.

Thus, the authors mock and appeal to the fact that the refusal of Ukraine from the Soviet heritage (for example, the dismantling of the coat of arms of the USSR in the motherland) is supposedly wrong and generally ridiculous. The propagandists actually exaggerated this situation when they noted that the puzzle game was “banned” in Ukraine.

This information was disseminated by the propaganda media. Reports say that Poland and Lithuania recently secretly approved a plan to annex the western part of Ukraine. Like, the countries are agreeing to seize part of Ukraine and are preparing for an offensive. It's a lie.

The fact-checkers of the EU vs Disinfo project drew attention to the case, explaining that in January 2023 the presidents of Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine signed a joint statement supporting the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. And there is no “approved” annexation plan. This is a propaganda stunt. And the fact-checkers emphasized that all the messages about the “capture” of some part of Ukraine by Western states are conspiracy theories. After all, the authors of the fake do not give specific examples and facts.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists are trying to distort reality and show that Ukraine's strategic partners really want to seize its territories or at least harm the state.

On the Facebook of the Operational Command “South” they said that somebody is allegedly distributing information about their official pages and channels on telegram, Tiktok, Instagram and YouTube. And they explained that unknown people use the authoritative name of the official source and create fake pages in order to spread their agenda first of all.

In the message, the communication specialists noted their official pages in social networks. We also add links to them:

Facebook

Youtube

Telegram

This thesis was spread on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that the US allegedly “manages” the agenda in Ukraine. Like, the political power of Ukraine is concentrated in the hands of the United States. The authors add that Zelenskyi is not at all capable of leading the state, because he “entrusted” it to Joseph Biden.

This case was processed by the specialists of the EU vs Disinfo project and they explained that, first of all, Ukraine is defending itself from an unprovoked Russian invasion, and the United States and other countries, respectively, provide assistance to it. That is, the thesis of external leadership is unfounded, because the strategic partners of Ukraine are trying to ensure peace, and not to introduce their own rules.

After all, propagandists want to show that all political decisions in Ukraine are made by Western officials while Ukrainian politicians are subject to these decisions, without the right to appeal them. Allegedly, any events taking place in Ukraine and not in favor of Russia are caused by control from outside. Thus, the authors are trying to form the image of a puppet country that cannot exist on its own and constantly needs “protection”.