Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric are disseminating information that Volodymyr Zelenskyi staged a circus by arresting Ihor Kolomoiskyi. This is happening to show Ukrainians that no one is untouchable, to show Russians that there is real democracy in Ukraine, and to show citizens of the United States and Europe that Ukraine is fighting corruption. “The showmen of the Kyiv regime are organizing a circus for the poor and poorly educated”, the text says. It is not true.

The case was investigated by the fact-checker of the EUvsDiSiNFO project.

Russian propaganda is trying to discredit ongoing anti-corruption measures in Ukraine so that the country receives EU membership. The arrests and release of well-known people in Ukraine, in particular the oligarch Ihor Kolomoiskyi, are one of such measures as part of this campaign.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to discredit the Ukrainian authorities and ridicule the President of Ukraine, appealing to his past as a comedian. The ongoing anti-corruption initiatives refute the narrative of Russian propagandists that Ukraine is the most corrupt state. Previously, we explained the message that international support for Ukraine is being reduced due to corruption.