February 17, 2022
Some U.S. media outlets have been spreading “blatant fake news” about the threat of a further Russian invasion of Ukraine, Chairman of Ukraine’s Servant of the People parliamentary faction David Arakhamia said during the Pravo Na Vladu (“Right to Power”) show on the 1+1 TV Channel on Feb. 14.
He compared role of U.S. media outlets with Russian propagandists, though the MP added that he thinks “the panic phase (of the crisis) will disappear” in a few weeks.
“I think when the phase disappears in two or three weeks, we should do a retrospective analysis of how large, very well-known media outlets began to spread information worse than (Russian propagandists) (Olga) Skabeeva and (Vladimir) Solovyov,” Arakhamia said.
“Blatant fake news in CNN, Bloomberg, WSJ… We must study this, since these are elements of a hybrid war.”
He said “attempts are being made now to make a new collective security treaty,” and Ukraine is only a platform for negotiations.
Arakhamia also said that the publication of information about the threat of invasion by the Russian army “costs the country $2-3 billion every month.”
“We can’t borrow in foreign markets because the rates are crazy there,” he continued.
“Many exporters are idle. We count the economic losses every day and then submit this information to our partners through the Foreign Ministry, since they have to understand this.”
“When someone decides to relocate the embassy to (the western city of) Lviv, they must understand that such news will cost the Ukrainian economy several hundred million dollars,” Arakhamia added, referring to recent decisions made by a few foreign governments to move their consulate services away from Kyiv.
The Ukrainian hryvnia has been one such cost of late, with the National Bank of Ukraine pointing to recent drops in the Ukrainian national currency’s price, compared to the dollar, as due solely to “geopolitical risk,” and has been selling foreign reserves to meet demand for currency.
Media hype or an imminent threat?
Russia has deployed about 140,000 troops and equipment on the border with Ukraine.
It has officially denied its intention to carry out a large-scale invasion of Ukraine, while continuing to arm and command its proxy groups in non-government controlled regions of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
On Feb. 11, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the U.S. government “continues to see very troubling signs of Russian escalation, including new forces arriving at the Ukrainian border.”
U.S. political media outlet Politico also reported on Feb. 11 that U.S. President Joe Biden told Western leaders that Russia would start a physical assault on Ukraine as soon as Feb. 16.
Meanwhile, the U.S.-based Bloomberg news agency reported that a fresh Russian aggression against Ukraine could begin on Feb. 15.
Russia in turn accused foreign media of a “large-scale disinformation campaign.”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has again said that the Ukrainian government has “everything under control.” He also announced Feb. 16, 2022 as Unity Day.
According to NSDC Secretary Danilov, Ukraine’s leadership sees no signs of Russia preparing for a full-scale offensive on Feb. 16.
SOURCE: New Voice of Ukraine