The first episode of the Zelenskyi Unmasked project was recently released: Who is Volodymyr Zelenskyy? (“Zelenskyi without a mask: Who is Volodymyr Zelenskyi?”). It was brought to the attention of journalist Serhii Mamaiev and a detailed analysis on his YouTube channel “Special Projects of Serhii Mamaev”.

The series is hosted by Ben Swann, who calls himself an investigative journalist. But it is not so. Mamaiev found out that he was actually a television sports producer, and later a news journalist, producer and editor-in-chief of the FOX network affiliates and Russia Today America. Based on the released analysis, Detector Media presents the main messages consonant with Russian propaganda, which can be found within the first series of the project.

Volodymyr Zelenskyi did not know Ukrainian and came to power dishonestly

The authors of the film made many inaccuracies in the biography of the President of Ukraine, which indicates that the material was not carefully prepared. In particular, they also noted that Kryvyi Rih is located in the south of Ukraine, although the map that was inserted into the video refutes this. According to the creators of the project, Zelenskyi allegedly did not know Ukrainian at all before his presidency. However, in fact, he only did not use Ukrainian in everyday life.

In addition, the authors demonized both the creation of Kvartal 95, the transition of Kvartal to 1+1, and the series “Servant of the People”, the creation of the “Servant of the People” party and Zelenskyi’s participation in the presidential elections. Like, he is not who he claims to be.

The situation in Donbas is expected as it is historically a Russian region

The authors of the project repeated Russian propaganda cliches on Euromaidan and the war in Donbas from 2014. They deliberately did not mention the true reasons for the Revolution of Dignity and the shooting of students. The presenter also kept silent about the annexation of Crimea and Russia’s orchestration of the creation of the so-called LPR and DPR. The authors of the project do not talk about torture and executions of pro-Ukrainian activists in Donbas by Russians. Instead, all this is summed up with the message that Donbas is in fact a historically Russian region. However, Mamaiev notes that most of the residents of the eastern regions identified themselves as Ukrainians in the population census.

Zelensky is spreading ultranationalism in Ukraine

The presenter says that Zelenskyi allegedly betrayed his native Russian language and turned Ukrainian society towards ultra-nationalism. They say that discrimination against Russian-speaking Ukrainians is also evidenced by legislation restricting Russian music and literature. Allegedly, this was one of the reasons for the invasion. However, the authors do not mention that the Decrees on quotas on Ukrainian music and acts limiting the distribution of Russian literature came after the full-scale invasion.

Russia only wants to restore the USSR, and NATO and the USA really provoked it to attack Ukraine and sabotaged the peace process

The authors justify Russian aggression by saying that Russia simply wanted to rebuild the Soviet Union and presented this statement in a positive sense, as if what Ukraine is against looks strange. In addition, according to the presenter, it was the United States and NATO that provoked Russia into invading Ukraine, since NATO allegedly surrounded Russia on all sides. But even here the authors contradict themselves, since they show a map where NATO members indicate states that joined the Alliance after Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

Next, the authors tell how in the spring of 2022, Ukraine and Russia almost agreed on a peace agreement. However, according to the presenter, the peace fell apart allegedly because of the United States and Europe, which pushed Ukraine to continue the war. They say that it is because of them that Ukraine allegedly thwarted all agreements and continued repression within the country. However, in fact, the negotiations were stopped after the criminal actions of Russian troops in Bucha. And Russia calls “repression” any actions directed against violations of the law on cooperation with occupiers, deliberately dramatizing the situation.

Propagandists as project experts

A number of people who regularly play along with Russian propaganda provided their comments for the first episode. Among them is Andrii Telizhenko, a former Ukrainian diplomat who was a frequent guest on Medvedchuk’s channels, where he promoted relevant narratives. At one time, according to Mamaiev, he also tried to help promote the idea of then-President Trump, who supposedly Zelenskyi was collaborating with the US Democratic Party.

Another character in the project is Gonzalo Lira, about whose history we have written more than once before. The project repeats the story about the “illegality” of his detention. Like, in fact, he is in prison because of his criticism of Zelenskyi. However, the SBU, during Lira’s imprisonment, emphasized that the main charge for this was the justification of Russian aggression against Ukraine.

Zelenskyi destroys religion in Ukraine

The authors of the project repeated the Russian message, complaining that Zelenskyi is trying to usurp religion in the state for himself, trying to delegalize the UOC-MP. However, they are silent about the fact that the priests of this denomination justified the invasion of Ukraine and aimed missiles at civilians. And not a word that Ukraine has its own church. The authors create the impression that Zelenskyi bans Orthodoxy in Ukraine as a whole, although this is not the case.

The United States has already made films about Ukraine, where they disseminated messages in tune with Russian propaganda. In particular, director Oliver Stone at one time began making films about dictators. In particular, in 2016 he published the work “Ukraine on Fire”, where he interviewed Medvedchuk. A year later, he recorded an interview with Putin.

Conservative media in the United States further spread skepticism regarding Ukraine, including through the spread of conspiracy theories. All this has a special context, given that the first impeachment of then US President Donald Trump was announced due to the phone call scandal with Volodymyr Zelenskyi. Since then, Trump fans have called the topic of Ukraine “toxic” and are trying in every possible way to reconcile Ukraine with Russia. This is clearly visible on Trump’s Truth Social, where we previously found a large amount of anti-Ukrainian rhetoric. This “information bubble” does not help Ukraine, and anti-Ukrainian messages are supported by the target audience of these media - recent polls from CBS News show that 61% of US citizens who identify as Republicans oppose assistance to Ukraine.