Days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky left the White House following a heated meeting with President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance, supporters of the Trump administration have recirculated a months-old video message from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard impugning Zelensky.
In the June 24 video, Gabbard—a former Democratic member of Congress and 2020 presidential candidate—claimed that Zelensky has banned political opposition parties, seized his political rivals’ assets, nationalized major television networks, and canceled democratic elections in defiance of Ukraine’s constitution. But Gabbard misleads viewers by making false assertions and leaving out key details, painting a distorted picture to allege Ukrainian democracy is riddled with corruption.
Here is something that the political establishment and propaganda media don’t want you to know. Ukraine’s President Zelensky has just banned yet another political opposition party, one that questioned his legitimacy as president, and used Ukraine’s Department of Justice to mandate the seizure of this party’s members’ assets. Now, this is just the latest of Zelensky’s actions to do this sort of thing. He began banning major political opposition parties in 2022 when he also started banning TV channels that were associated with his political opponents. And he took over total control of Ukraine’s largest television networks, now controlled by their government. Zelensky’s presidential term ended on May 20, [2024,] he canceled elections in the name of martial law, suspending Ukraine’s constitution so that he can stay in power. And defenders of Zelensky will say, ‘Hey, Ukraine is in the middle of a war. They can’t have elections.’ Just stop for a moment and think, if we accept that excuse or criteria for suspending the Constitution and canceling elections, then we should presume that leaders in our own country, in our own establishment media, will also use this same excuse and rationale when they suspend our Constitution, and our elections, since we too are at war with Russia and China. If you think this sounds crazy, look at what’s already going on. They’ve already started conditioning us to accept a dictatorship by rationalizing their own use of our Department of Justice to target President Trump and other political enemies in their efforts to stay in power.
In the caption to her social media posts sharing the video message, she directly questioned the legitimacy of Ukrainian democracy. “Shouldn’t the country we are supposedly protecting (while destroying it) actually be a democracy?” she wrote.
Gabbard’s video message is being amplified anew by anti-Ukraine activists online. On March 2, one prominent X account with nearly 1 million followers shared Gabbard’s video and leveled accusations about George Soros and the U.S. Agency for International Development’s involvement in Ukraine. Elon Musk, X owner and leader of the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), also tweeted out Gabbard’s video on two separate occasions that same day. “Listen to this,” Musk captioned one of his tweets.
Claim: Zelensky Banned His Political Opposition
Gabbard claimed that Zelensky “banned yet another political opposition party” and used his executive authority to seize those party members’ assets. But what Gabbard leaves out is that Ukraine’s constitution explicitly outlines situations for when that might be necessary. Per its text, political parties “aimed at the liquidation of the independence of Ukraine, the change of the constitutional order by violent means, the violation of the sovereignty and territorial indivisibility of the State, the undermining of its security, the unlawful seizure of state power, the propaganda of war and of violence, the incitement of inter-ethnic, racial, or religious enmity, and the encroachments on human rights and freedoms and the health of the population” will be prohibited. Elsewhere, it states that the “establishment and activity of political parties” is “determined exclusively by the laws of Ukraine.”
The specific opposition party Gabbard mentions in the video is the Nash Krai (Our Land) party, formally banned through a court order on June 19, 2024, after a Ukrainian court denied its appeal. Two years prior, Ukraine’s Security Service intelligence agency discovered that two party leaders sold a seat to Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, for about $2.5 million. As a result, the Ukrainian court, in its ruling denying the party’s appeal, ordered its property, funds, and assets to be signed over to the Ukrainian government. In 2019, the last election Ukraine held since martial law was legally instated in 2022, the party had four members elected to the 450-person legislature. Of those four members, one fled Ukraine after Russia’s invasion and his fellow Ukrainian legislators later expelled him from the Verkhovna Rada in January 2023. He now serves in the Russian Federation Council legislative chamber and was also previously indicted by the U.S. Justice Department in December 2022 for a money laundering scheme involving his properties in California. A second member has not cast a parliamentary vote in person since November 2022 and is currently wanted by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine. The third was found dead in May 2020 in his apartment from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Only the fourth remains a voting member of the Verkhovna Rada with no political party affiliation, now identifying as an independent.
Nash Krai was not the first political opposition party to be banned under Zelensky’s leadership. In March 2022, Ukraine’s parliament voted 330-0—with two members abstaining and 40 not voting—to ban pro-Russian political parties deemed a threat to Ukraine’s national security and sovereignty. The law did not grant Zelensky the authority to ban political rivals on his own, but listed specific actions and behaviors that would warrant a political party being banned and its property transferred to state ownership. This included political parties that attempt to deny or justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—such as describing the invasion as an “internal conflict,” “civil war,” or “temporary occupation”—and those that glorify or justify the actions of Russian leaders, government officials, and soldiers.
Zelensky signed the law in May 2022 and banned 11 pro-Russian political parties, though most were small parties with no current representation in the Verkhovna Rada. He had previously suspended those same parties under martial law in March. The largest of the banned parties was the Opposition Platform–For Life (OPFL) party, which had 44 members in Ukraine’s 450-person parliament when it was banned. Viktor Medvedchuk—a leader of the OPFL party and longtime ally of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, who is also godfather to Medvedchuk’s daughter—was arrested in April 2022 after Russia attempted to help him flee Ukraine. Months later, in September 2022, Medvedchuck was released to Russia in a 300-person prisoner exchange with Ukraine and, according to Ukrainian news outlets, currently resides in Moscow. Although some party members followed Medvedchuk’s footsteps in fleeing Ukraine, and others are wanted or detained for alleged treason, some former OPFL party members continue to serve in Ukraine’s parliament under a different party affiliation. Two parliamentary groups in the Verkhovna Rada—similar to political parties, but created by members of parliament—formed after the pro-Russia party ban took effect: Restoration for Ukraine and the Platform for Life and Peace. Each has members formerly affiliated with the OPFL.
Pro-Russian political parties are banned in Ukraine, but opposition political parties still form a formidable minority coalition in Ukraine’s parliament. This includes 1) European Solidarity, an opposition party led by former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, 2) the Batkivshchyna or “Fatherland” party led by former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, and 3) the Holos party, which means both “voice” and “vote,” and which was founded by a Ukrainian rock star.
Claim: Zelensky Banned Opposition TV Channels and Nationalized Ukraine’s Television Networks
Gabbard claimed that Zelensky clamped down on broadcast networks, banned channels operated by his political rivals, and “took over” the largest networks. Zelensky did consolidate Ukrainian news networks into a single channel, the United News telethon (a marathon broadcast operation, not a fundraiser), and restricted competing networks, including those operated by potential pro-Putin propagandists. In a March 2022 decree, Zelensky cited Article 107 of Ukraine’s constitution, which gives the president and his National Security and Defense Council authority to act on issues of national security and defense, and the declaration of martial law, as justification that his television consolidation was legally sound.
As The Dispatch Fact Check reported on similar claims in November 2023,
Ukraine has also acted to reduce Russian influence through media consolidation, though some Ukrainians now question its continued necessity. In March 2022, all national news channels were merged into the single United News platform—a 24-hour broadcast news network. Additionally, a law enacted in December 2022 granted new powers to Ukraine’s National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting to “warn, fine, delicense, and suspend any media outlet, and temporarily extrajudicially block access to non-media online resources,” according to Amnesty International. The National Security and Defense Council also leveraged a 2014 sanctions law to pull three television channels run by Taras Kozak—a pro-Kremlin lawmaker believed to be a close ally of Vladimir Putin—off the air before the war, in February 2021.
The wartime consolidation of media began partly as a practical necessity because of the exodus of civilians from Kyiv, but security concerns were also at the forefront. “There weren’t a lot of people to run TV channels, so there was a practical aspect to it,” [Atlantic Council expert on Ukraine Peter] Dickinson said. “But fundamentally, it was a national security issue.”
That said, Dickinson also believes that the government’s recent consolidation of media is not necessarily fully justified. “It’s probably the weakest link of all the things they’ve done,” he explained. “I think that’s the one thing people do say here in Ukraine: Why do we still have this, why don’t the TV channels function?”
The Ukrainian constitution states that, like political parties, the “principles of the use of … communications” are “determined exclusively by the laws of Ukraine,” and therefore are subject to any regulation and consolidation legally pursued by the government. Zelensky has also stated that the national telethon serves a national security purpose, helping the Ukrainian government effectively communicate critical information to its citizens during a time of war. “I understand that people get tired of the news and are looking for a TV series, movie or program,” Zelensky said in February 2023. “But how does the day start and how does it end? With the question of what is happening in our country and abroad. What’s going on in the war?” he asked. “What’s the situation with electricity? Water? Where are the Russians? Who stands with us and who supports us? I trust this friend—the telethon.” Meanwhile, his administration has maintained that the Ukrainian television consolidation will end once martial law is declared over at the war’s end.
Claim: Zelensky Canceled Elections and Suspended The Constitution
Gabbard is partly incorrect when she asserted that Zelensky “canceled elections in the name of martial law, suspending Ukraine’s constitution so that he can stay in power.” Zelensky did declare martial law in February 2022 because of Russia’s invasion, and that prevents new elections from taking place, but there has been no suspension or violation of the Ukrainian constitution. In fact, the Ukrainian constitution explicitly forbids elections during martial law and states that elections shall be held “after the cancellation of martial law.” The constitution’s text authorizes the sitting government to remain in power until martial law ends, new elections are held, and a new government is elected. “There is a Constitution and laws of our country that we have to live by,” Oleksiy Danilov, the then-secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, said in May 2023 about the prospect of upcoming elections. “No elections can be held during martial law.”
Last month, the Verkhovna Rada voted to extend martial law through May 9, which Zelensky approved. Ukraine’s constitution states clearly that the document “shall not be amended” while under martial law. And, on February 25, the parliament voted 268-0 in favor of supporting Ukraine’s current, Zelensky-led government, with 12 seats not voting.
Ukraine’s constitution states further that there are certain “rights and freedoms” that the government may not wrest away even under periods of martial law or other state emergencies. It provides a lengthy list that includes ensuring equality before the law, the right to life and dignity, due process and legal representation, housing, and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Meanwhile, the right to vote in elections is not on the list, possibly because the task to hold free, fair, and secure elections in a country where some of its territory is under active military conflict and occupation by its neighbor warrants some logistical concerns, never mind safety concerns. Putin has targeted schools and hospitals in air strikes against Ukraine—raising concerns about attacks on voting locations.
Gabbard claimed that Zelensky won’t hold elections so that he can cling to power, but even one of Zelensky’s most formidable political opponents has spoken out against that concern. Poroshenko, the aforementioned leader of Ukraine’s largest opposition party, agrees that it is not a good time to hold elections. “Who would be the winner of this election?” Poroshenko said last month. “That is one person—Putin.”
“If there are elections during the war,” he added, “he will simply seize the moment. That is unacceptable.”
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