State Department Funding Ukrainian Propaganda Outlet That Issued “Enemies List” of U.S. Legislators, Conservative Media Outlets

A media shill for Ukrainian dictator Volodymyr Zelensky’s corrupt regime has assembled an “enemies” list of nearly 400 American legislators, commentators, think tanks, and media outlets that are responsible for “impeding aid to Ukraine.”

Published by the little known Texty.org.ua website, the hit piece falsely claims that U.S. legislators and figures such as Tucker Carlson are Russian propagandists because they oppose U.S. funding for and involvement in Ukraine’s losing war. 

But worse than that, U.S. taxpayers are financing the anti-American propaganda through the State Department.

In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, GOP Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio and Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida have demanded answers.

The Article

Under the headline Roller Coaster: From Trumpists to Communists. The forces in the U.S. impeding aid to Ukraine and how they do it, the attack piece alleges a conspiracy of “388 individuals and 76 organizations” that oppose aid to Ukraine.

“A little more than half of the individuals in this sample are right-wing, about one in eight are left-wing, and the rest do not associate themselves with a specific ideological platform,” the pro-war propaganda piece explains:

The right-wing individuals are mostly politicians affiliated with the Trump wing of the Republican Party. Most of the left-wing individuals are anti-war activists and left-leaning parties that urge the government to stop funding Ukraine. Most of the media, journalists, experts, and think tanks in this list do not have a clear right or left bias. …

Out of these, 50 individuals have collaborated with Russian media and government-funded initiatives during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The piece claims that the “ecosystem” of individuals and organizations it fingers “often mirror Kremlin propaganda.”

The article admits that it has no proof of any anti-Ukraine conspiracy linked to Russia. But again, those who oppose U.S. tax money for Ukraine’s fruitless war are simply regurgitating Russian talking points. 

“Most of the people in our study do not have direct, proven ties to the Russian government or propagandists,” the article confesses:

However, the arguments they use to urge authorities to distance themselves from Ukraine echo key messages of Russian propaganda aimed at depriving Ukrainians of the ability to defend themselves with Western weapons and funds.

Included in the list of nogoodniks is Vance, along with “Russian propaganda disseminator” Tucker Carlson, the Cato Institute, The Heritage Foundation, Breitbart, the Daily Wire, The American Conservative, former U.S. Representative Ron Paul, the Libertarian Party, former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, and “conspiracy theorists” such as Alex Jones.

Another bad man: Jordan Peterson. 

Also on the list were leftist members of Congress such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the rest of the kooky “Squad.”

And, of course, there’s Orange Man Bad himself, Donald Trump, whom the pro-Ukraine propaganda piece mentions 45 times. Vance, another key villain in the narrative, appears eight times. With just four appearances, Gaetz must be a minor enemy of Ukraine.

The Letter

Thus did the two demand answers from Blinken.

“It is a substantively thin piece, largely an excuse to smear a large group of Americans who have been skeptical of aid to Ukraine in one form or another,” the lawmakers wrote:

But it is being broadcast as a part of a coordinated media strategy that has all the hallmarks of a U.S.-targeting influence operation. As the piece itself notes:

“We included 116 members of the U.S. House of Representatives (out of a total of 435) and 21 senators (out of 100) who did not support the bill for aid to Ukraine in April 2024. All of them are members of the Republican Party.”

That line does not appear in the main article but in a hyperlinked subsection titled “Politicians, media figures, experts. Who in the USA is against supporting Ukraine.”

Vance and Gaetz note that the founder of the group, one Anatoly Bondarenko, “is listed on a U.S. government website as supported by the United States Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.”

Breitbart explained the tie in detail.

“The website claims to be ‘independent’ and that its project into supposed anti-Ukrainian sentiment in America was funded ‘exclusively by the readers,’” Breitbart reported:

However, TEXTY is listed as a partner of the Transparency and Accountability in Public Administration and Services (TAPAS) Project in Ukraine, which is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and UK International Development (UK Dev).

TEXTY’s co-founder and current deputy editor, Anatoly Bondarenko, is also listed as a trainer for the American State Department’s “TechCamp” program, which claims to provide “hands-on, participant-driven workshops that connect private sector technology experts with key populations — journalists, non-governmental organisations, civil society advocates, and more — to explore and apply innovative tech solutions to global issues.”

Two years ago, Vance and Gaetz told Blinken, another Ukraine propaganda organ, the Center for Countering Disinformation, issued a similar list. It too was “the beneficiary of American largesse.”

American tax dollars, the two wrote, should not support attacks on Americans who quite reasonably disagree on so important a matter as funding a foreign war, and “especially not direct attacks on U.S. legislators based solely upon their vote.” 

The two told Blinken to provide documents on the department’s support for Bondarenko and Texty.org by June 28, 2024.

They also want to know whether State is investigating any violations of department policy.