DISINFO: Zelenskyy is a dictator
SUMMARY
Zelensky is a dictator. He is behind the persecution and murders of opponents and journalists not aligned with the regime; the suppression of opposition parties, the banning and persecution of the only canonical Orthodox Church in Ukraine, the one linked to the Moscow Patriarchate, the banning of the most spoken language in the country, Russian, the censorship and repression of any voice dissenting from the regime’s dictates, the hundreds of thousands of young people, often forcibly taken from the streets, “basified,” as they say, and thrown to the front lines towards certain death in a senseless war “to the last Ukrainian”; the Presidential elections being indefinitely cancelled.
It is difficult to define the current Ukraine as a “democratic” country.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative portraying Zelenskyy as illegitimate president, Ukraine as a dictatorship and Ukraine as an enemy of the Orthodox Church.
By targeting Ukraine’s leadership, Russia aims at undermining president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s continuity in power. Russia has always perceived Zelenskyy as an obstacle to its aggressive goals in Ukraine, even since before the invasion. One of the targets of the invasion in February 2022 was the murder of Zelenskyy and the decapitation of the Ukrainian government to install a pro-Russian leadership.
Ukraine is a democracy, where Ukrainian citizens elect their president in competitive elections every 5 years.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was elected in 2019, in presidential election that were competitive and held with respect for fundamental freedoms, according to the OSCE.
Zelenskyy is the legitimate president of Ukraine. Although Zelenskyy’s continuation in power after his initial mandate expired in May 2024 generated some domestic controversy, Ukraine’s constitution is straightforward: no elections can be held during wartime and the President of Ukraine exercises his powers until the assumption of office by the newly-elected President. The continuity of government institutions is one of the key principles of the constitution. Almost all observers consider regular elections unfeasible as there are millions of refugees abroad, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians serving on the frontlines and a significant part of Ukrainian population lives under Russian occupation. There are also multiple funding and infrastructure problems that can hardly be addressed while the war is ongoing.
There is no persecution of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) in Ukraine. In late 2022, the Ukrainian government introduced a law banning churches affiliated with Russia, following investigations into parishes that Kyiv believes may be taking orders from Moscow. This primarily impacted the activities of the then Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), which was tied to Russia and viewed as a tool of influence for Moscow in Ukraine. Some UOC-MP clergy blessed Russian soldiers and weapons, supported Russian aggression, and spread anti-Ukrainian propaganda.
The ultimate goal of this disinformation story is to promote the idea that the negotiations to end the war will take place sooner or later, but not with Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself. This pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative aims to create an impression of strength ahead of any possible peace negotiations with Ukraine.
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that Kyiv persecutes Ukrainian Orthodox Church, that Ukraine court orders demolition of Orthodox church, Zelenskyy is illegitimate and therefore Russia is directly fighting the West, that the prolonged war allows Zelenskyy and his junta to maintain their positions of power, that Zelenskyy and the Kyiv junta need to continue the war against Russia to enrich themselves with Western aid, or that Zelenskyy staged a coup d'état for fear of losing the 2024 presidential elections.