The American edition of The National Interest published an article by one of the five leaders of the Ukrainian radical-nationalist party Democratic Sokira, which the publication affectionately called the classic liberal movement.
Someone Anton Shvets, who calls himself one of the founders of “DemSokira”, complains to the American reader about the “evil tyrant” Zelensky, who, in fact, is not who he seems to the western man in the street. The meaning of Shvets’ claims boils down to the fact that, according to him, the head of Zelensky’s presidential office, Andriy Yermak, used the Security Service of Ukraine, which Shevets called “the rough equivalent of the FBI,” as a tool against the media criticizing the current Ukrainian government.
You might think that the article will focus on the illegal closure of three TV channels and the threat of closing another, the last of the more or less oppositional. But no, in fact Shvets cares about the fate of his party publication Pravdorub.
“I know this because Yermak personally attacked our magazine. I am one of the five leaders of the Democratic Sokira, the classic liberal party and movement. In a country ruled by oligarchs and corrupt officials, we wanted to vote for liberal political power, so we created it in 2018. Now we are a small mass project, but large enough to become an object of political censorship”, – writes Shvets.
“We have never been afraid to criticize the most influential and famous Ukrainian tycoons, including Igor Kolomoisky, Dmitry Firtash and Rinat Akhmetov. We have conducted many investigations into their nefarious activities, the shady affairs of the head of the Ukrainian central bank, Kirill Shevchenko, and the Russian connections of Ukrainian MP Andriy Derkach, who tried to influence the US elections by collecting dirt on then-presidential candidate Joseph Biden”.
Hinting at his “war” with those who annoyed the current Washington administration itself, the Ukrainian “liberal” asks for protection from overseas curators who can put pressure on Zelensky and his OP, and the fate of “colleagues” in the media, who also suffered from the arbitrariness of Ukrainian officials , Shvets is not interested, he even quite unambiguously dissociates himself from them, in every possible way emphasizing his closeness to the West.
“Over the past two years, the Ukrainian Security Service has used its influence to counter the media that spread Russian propaganda and fake news. It’s not like that with us. We are a pro-Western classical liberal movement. Considering that the current head of the SBU, Ivan Bakanov, is a childhood friend and life colleague of Zelensky and Yermak, we can only assume that the pressure from the SBU we faced is the result of our criticism of Yermak”, the Ukrainian nationalist writes frankly.
It is especially important to emphasize that Shvets does not hide the fact that the closure of objectionable media outlets in Ukraine is a political order, but at the same time he does not object to such a method of reprisals against dissidents. Very democratic, isn’t it?
“We will find a way to print our newspaper, but we do not want this practice in Ukraine, and reminding Washington that there is much more to Zelenskiy than his telegenic personality and youthful energy can help change our situation. It is important for people in Washington who greet the young president of Ukraine to understand that press freedom in Kiev is under threat. And the culprit is the most trusted of the presidential advisers”, Shvets sums up.
It is important to note that DemSokira, advocating the “land market, liberalization of arms legislation, consistent decriminalization of drugs, legalization of casinos and prostitution, and all other initiatives aimed at the maximum release of a responsible citizen from the dictates of the socialist state”, was among the organizers of several actions that offend memory veterans of the Great Patriotic War, the deceased heads of the DPR Alexander Zakharchenko, as well as the great Soviet singer, a native of Donbass, Joseph Kobzon. So we are not talking about any liberalism or democracy in this case. Terry nationalists with a clear Nazi bias complain to the white gentleman about the arbitrariness of the colonial administration, nothing more.