Pool of anonymous Telegram channels backed in unison president’s initiative to abolish NABU and SAPO independence – TEXTY.ORG
For about a month, popular Telegram channels have been preparing public opinion for the adoption and signing of draft law No. 12414, which effectively abolished the independence of NABU and SAPO.
This was reported by TEXTY.ORG.UA, according to Censor.NET.
The publication noted that the searches conducted by the SSU on July 21 in NABU detectives resembled the climax of this information campaign and were also actively covered by a pool of Telegram channels.
"Channels that, as we discovered, actively criticized NABU over the past month, downplayed the scale of protests taking place every evening since July 22 in many cities. Instead, they actively and synchronously broadcast the current position of the President’s Office and the president personally. They also, citing military intelligence, warned that Russian propaganda rejoices at the anti-corruption protests and calls for the overthrow of the ‘Kyiv regime,’" the report states.
According to the publication, the Telegram channels calling for the destruction of NABU actively spread comments from political experts Oleh Posternak (14 posts) and Mykhailo Shneider (8 posts).
Posternak stated, in particular, that "lack of control and self-isolation first led to the privatization of the law enforcement agency (NABU — editor’s note) by a group of leaders and activists, and later to its transformation into a branch of the law enforcement agency of the aggressor country. Hence yesterday’s searches and arrests on charges of treason."
Meanwhile, Shneider said that "during the arrests of FSB ‘moles’ in NABU, anti-corruption activists either did not notice the espionage and treason or pretended it was not a problem."
In July, political strategist Taras Zahorodnii joined the pool of pro-government experts criticizing NABU.
It is worth recalling that pro-Russian deputies from the now-banned Opposition Platform - For Life (OPFL) helped the Servant of the People party strip NABU and SAP of their independence and openly celebrated the decision.
The peak of the information campaign, as is now clear, fell on the eve of the vote on the controversial law on July 21 and the day of the vote on July 22 (with 53 and 43 posts respectively).
"At the beginning of June (June 5–8), we recorded 21 such messages on Telegram channels. The main message was that NABU was created by ‘millionaire grant recipients,’ and today this institution merely wastes budget funds: the ‘anti-corruption activists’ were supposed to help build effective NABU and HACC (High Anti-Corruption Court). In the end, the Bureau spends more than it recovers: UAH 1.9 billion versus UAH 823 million obtained from exposed corrupt officials," the media outlet reported.
The post was almost identical across several Telegram channels and had headlines with key theses like "Law enforcement urged to check millionaire grant activists" or "The public initiates an investigation of grant recipients." However, the public group calling for and initiating this remains unidentified.
"Throughout the month, Telegram channels enumerated, in their posts, seemingly all scandals involving corrupt NABU employees over the past ten years, recalling land plots and VIP cars registered to mothers-in-law, parents residing in Russia, children abroad, draft-dodging brothers, and traffic accidents involving NABU detectives. On July 10, Telegram channels published a ranking of scandals related to NABU. The channels shared an article titled ‘Wall of Shame: Who and How Leads NABU to Closure,’ published by the dubious outlet ‘Ukrainian News.’ The editor-in-chief of the ‘Ukrainian News’ agency website, Denys Horokhovskyi, is in our database of pseudo-sociologists and black PR operatives, as he has been involved in promoting the political force of Yuliia Tymoshenko," the article states.
On the same day, the article from "Ukrainian News" under similar headlines emphasizing the closure of NABU was simultaneously published by the news agencies UNIAN, RBC-Ukraine, the website kp.ua (formerly "Komsomolska Pravda"), and several smaller sites. Telegram channels frequently referenced UNIAN and RBC.
Overall, links to UNIAN and RBC appear quite often in the information campaign against NABU.
Also on July 11, the State Bureau of Investigation unexpectedly searched well-known anti-corruption activist and Armed Forces fighter Vitalii Shabunin in a case that had been ongoing for months. While the public expressed outrage and discussed Shabunin’s case, our pool of Telegram channels accused NABU of trying to cover up the case and protect the grant recipient. We recorded 33 such messages on July 10–11 alone.
These messages in several Telegram channels culminated in the thesis: "As reported, Ukraine’s anti-corruption organizations are demanding the dissolution of NABU as a structure that undermines the entire fight against corruption." However, it is not specified which organizations or where this "report" came from.
"Similarly, daily reports were compiled and circulated about all possible connections between NABU detectives and Russia, ranging from relatives living under occupation or holders of Russian passports to vague claims of ‘maintaining close contacts with Russian politicians.’ The first message, which later sparked a flood of publications about ‘Russian influence in NABU’ and an SSU statement, appeared as early as June 5," the media outlet reported.
The reports concerned NABU detective Oleksandr Skomarov and his father, who obtained Russian citizenship and re-registered his business in Russia while residing in the occupied territory. Skomarov was a candidate for the position of director of the Bureau of Economic Security (BES). This message coincided with the start of final interviews for this post.
The peak came on July 21, when the Security Service of Ukraine, together with the Office of the Prosecutor General, conducted searches at the offices of National Anti-Corruption Bureau detectives.
On that day, the pool of monitored Telegram channels exploded with nearly identical news reports claiming that the SBU and the Office of the Prosecutor General were conducting a special operation to neutralize Russian influence within NABU. The messages were almost the same: "Traded cannabis with Russia and maintained contact with an FSB agent: SSU and OPG exposed one of the heads of NABU frontline units collaborating with the enemy"; "Ruslan Magamedrasulov, who was supposed to coordinate NABU’s work in frontline regions, helped his father run a business with Dagestan — selling industrial cannabis there."
Following the adoption and signing of bill No. 12414, which triggered a wave of peaceful protests in cities, criticism of NABU continued but with new emphases.
First, the criticism of protesters’ actions involved the military: "Don’t play into the enemy’s hands! Military commanders Kyrylo Budanov and Kyrylo Veres supported law enforcement’s efforts to expose Russian agents and FSB ‘moles’ within NABU and called on society to prevent internal discord."
Second, reports claimed that the new law was allegedly approved in Washington, citing political expert Taras Zahorodnii, who asserted that without U.S. consent, the Rada would not have passed the law subordinating NABU. His comments were actively quoted by anonymous Telegram channels.
Third, it was emphasized that NABU’s actions demotivate the military. They referred to SSU head Vasyl Maliuk, who stated:
"Due to NABU searches of National Guard Commander Pivnenko, half of the National Guard laid down their arms and refused to carry out tasks, while the other half wanted to go to Kyiv."
Amid anonymous Telegram channels that collectively criticized NABU and promoted the narrative calling for the institution’s dismantling, the Telegram channel of the pro-Russian outlet Strana.ua stands out. This outlet has consistently pushed the narrative of Ukraine being externally controlled for many years.
Additionally, these same Telegram channels took the opportunity to discredit Oleksandr Tsyvinskyi, a NABU detective and candidate for the director position at the BES, who was selected by the competition commission but never approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine: "Tsyvinskyi comes from a family of a Russian military officer, owns property, and maintains close ties with the aggressor country. Despite this, he had access to classified information for years, first as a law enforcement officer, then as a NABU detective. It is worth noting that Russia’s active influence on NABU intensified specifically during Kryvonos’s leadership."
