“Selling Ukraine”. How Luhansk propagandists are waiting for Trump’s help
Even before the US election, Russians chose Donald Trump as their favourite. Their statements contained undisguised hopes that the newly elected president would side with the Kremlin, stop military aid to Ukraine, arrest Volodymyr Zelensky and shake hands with Vladimir Putin.
Realna Gazeta has looked into what the propaganda media are saying about the new head of the White House.
“Selling Ukraine” and “punishing Zelensky”
In the studio of the political show “There is a Question” on the propaganda channel Luhansk 24, the host confuses Biden and Trump, so sometimes she affectionately calls the newly elected president “Donald”. The guests describe him as a successful businessman and a “more adequate” president. They expect him to be business savvy and pragmatic, although they admit that it is difficult to predict his next move.
The studio repeats the old Russian narrative: “Ukraine is a raw material base”, and the United States needs it only as such. Allegedly, Trump is not interested in a war “for incomprehensible values”. Another cliché from the Kremlin’s previous playbooks is “Ukraine will be sold to Poland”. Allegedly, if Trump is a “businessman” and Ukraine is “at least interesting to someone”, it can be “sold”.
The Russian collaborators expect Zelensky to be “punished” for his harsh words against Trump when he was a presidential candidate. Zelensky is “just one person, and the territory is the territory”. Therefore, the president of Ukraine can be replaced or “removed”, as Serhiy Zinoviev, an “official” from Luhansk, put it.
“After Trump came to power, Zelensky is no longer even a bargaining chip, but only a factor that does not determine anything,” he concluded.
In the propagandists’ “analytics”, Zelensky is a superfluous figure who asked to attend the inauguration three times but was not allowed.
“These are very difficult days for the overdue Ukrainian president. I hope that at least in his heart of hearts he realises that he is not needed alive,” the propaganda Telegram channel LuhanskInformCentre quoted Moscow-based political analyst Armen Gasparyan as saying.
“The US needs it more”
In another show, Luhansk LIVE, propagandists claim that it is not so important what happened at Donald Trump’s inauguration. What matters is how Vladimir Putin reacted to it. And he expects “equal dialogue”, the settlement of the “Ukrainian conflict”, the establishment of “long-term peace” and the defence of Russia interests.
Propagandists were pleased that Trump was the first to offer to speak on the phone with the Kremlin leader. This is seen as the US desire to “end the conflict” as soon as possible. Serhiy Prasolov, a collaborator and frequent guest on propaganda talk shows, interpreted Trump’s initiative as a rush by the United States because “they need it more”. In response, Putin said: “We are not asking for it.”
They tried to reassure the Luhansk audience that Russia has “enough strength to continue to insist on its position”. And the US wants to cut off aid to Ukraine.
A fake about the termination of funding
On the day of Trump’s inauguration, propagandists had a chance to rejoice in the “termination” of aid to Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to temporarily pause US foreign aid to other countries for 90 days. In Russia, people did not understand and were amused that the “Kyiv regime” would be left without money.
Trump’s decree concerned international assistance under development programmes. This programme funded UN agencies, peacekeeping initiatives, refugee support programmes, etc. Ukraine has also received assistance under the Presidential Drawdown (PDA) programme, the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) and Foreign Military Financing (FMF). The US Presidential Decree does not apply to these programmes.
Corruption, Hitler and “everything is lost”
Stopping the war in a hundred days, dismissing all those responsible for contacts with Ukraine, withdrawing all applications for logistics at NATO bases in Europe, and stopping the shipment of weapons to Kyiv. Trump has expressed his readiness to meet with Putin whenever the Russian president wants to. Sounds imperially ambitious and… outdated.
Propaganda speakers from Luhansk have never been known for their independence of thought, and on 22 January, when Z-propagandists were shouting about their disappointment with Trump, they continued to talk about their hopes in Luhansk studios. Russia’s ultra-patriotic community has already accused Trump of “treason”, resented the new White House and was outraged by the Kremlin’s restrained response to Trump’s statements.
Member of the “parliament” of the Luhansk “republic” Vladimir Poliakov compared Zelensky to both Hitler and Napoleon, who could destroy his people to maintain power.
He expected Trump to force Zelensky to end the war on terms favourable to Russia, with recognition of the annexation of the “new regions” (occupied parts of four regions of Ukraine), refusal to join NATO, lifting of sanctions against Russia, and reduction of the Ukrainian army to a size that would make it unable to counter the Russian army in the future.
The collaborator voiced another popular narrative: “Zelensky will be tried” for corruption because “Ukraine is the most corrupt country”.
The programme was aired when the US president had already published his ultimatum to Vladimir Putin: he will impose high taxes and harsh sanctions if the Russian president does not conclude a peace agreement with Ukraine. Neither the presenter Anna Zaitseva nor the “MP” Polyakov could have been unaware of this.