Amid the Russian-Ukrainian war, more and more Western "independent experts" are appearing, actively spreading Kremlin lies to their audience. There are dozens of well-known people in the media space who carry out the tasks of Putin's team and wage an information war directly against Ukraine.
Why the influence of propaganda on the West cannot be underestimated
What is important to understand is that Russian propaganda in the West is extremely dangerous, because not so many people in other countries clearly understand why the war between Ukraine and the Russian Federation started and how it is currently developing.
Moreover, Western "experts" who work for the Kremlin rebroadcast their fakes even to the Ukrainian audience to sow discord and panic among our population.
VoxCheck, together with the Center for Combating Disinformation (CCD) at the Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council (NSDC), analysed 26 Western "experts" and found that their activities have signs of a network. Publications and speeches for the period from 2014 to 2023 were taken into account.
How lies are applied in the West about Ukraine and the course of the war
According to the journalists, most analysed pro-Russian "experts" have their own YouTube channels or blogs on other platforms.
Former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson is the most scandalous and famous.
He recently interviewed the dictator Vladimir Putin — which is essential to understand, the only one among all Western journalists.
Moreover, Carlson publicly accused Ukraine of undermining the Kakhovskaya HPP and many times justified the invasion of the Russian Federation, spread fakes about "American biolaboratories in Ukraine" andemphasisedd that supporting Ukraine harms Western countries.
It is also impossible to ignore the figure of journalist Glenn Greenwald. He previously wrote articles for The Guardian.
The latter is not just friends with Tucker Carlson but also spreads the narrative that Ukraine, they say, will not be able to liberate the territories occupied by Russia.
American journalist Danny Haiphong also runs his YouTube channel. He often records videos with the no less famous American columnist Scott Ritter. Translated fragments from Haiphong's video are actively reproduced by the Russian television company Russia Today.
Former Marine Brian Berletic is a frequent guest on these programs. The latter brazenly lies that official Kyiv uses "Nazi" military units to suppress the pro-Russian sentiments of Ukrainians.
Moreover, he shamelessly accused the fighters of the "Azov", "Aidar", and "Right Sector" units of terrorising civilians. He also makes false claims that "the USA started a war in Ukraine."
Journalists also pay attention to Andrew Napolitano. The following are sent to him on the airwaves:
John Mearsheimer,
Ray McGovern,
Alistair Crook,
Larry Johnson,
Jeffrey Sachs and others.
What is essential to understand is that Napolitano declared ten years ago that the US should not oppose Putin's invasion of Ukraine. In 2023, he accused the United States of "direct war with Russia."
The Redacted YouTube channel of Clayton and Natalie Morris is also quite scandalous. They actively spread conspiracy theories and Russian-sounding narratives.
It is also worth noting that fragments of the channel's video with Russian subtitles are often published by the Russian propagandist Volodymyr Solovyov.
In addition, the publication The Grayzone, whose founder and chief editor is the American journalist Max Blumenthal, actively spreads fakes about the Russian-Ukrainian war.
In his articles, Blumenthal shifts Russia's guilt in war crimes to Ukraine: he calls the tragedy in the Mariupol drama theater "staged," and the accusations of Russia's massive campaign to deport Ukrainian children "unsubstantiated."
Interviews with pro-Russian political scientist John Mearsheimer are often published in The Grayzone. The latter constantly lies that "NATO provoked Russia in Ukraine."
Scientist Richard Sakva was also included in the list of pro-Russian propagandists. He has repeatedly publicly expressed doubts about the involvement of the Russian military in the massacre in Bucha, and also cynically accused Zelenskyy of being "responsible for the war."
Journalists also point to the founder of the Schiller Institute think tank, Helga Zepp-LaRouche, a German politician and activist. The latter constantly uses its resources to justify the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
What is essential to understand is that most of the mentioned journalists and "experts" have direct ties to the Kremlin. They repeatedly came to Russia, lived there, cooperated with Russian pro-government media and even received awards from the aggressor country.
