malign propaganda in the West speculates on church issues 

Widely announced “interview” of the American propagandist Tucker Carlson with the President of Russia Federation Vladimir Putin turned out to be a dud. 

The “interview”, which was presented as a “breakthrough of Russia’s information blockade”, in fact, is a pure Russian manipulation – crystal clear Russian propaganda enforced into Western information space in its pure form. Thus, RLI information that the interview was initiated by Nikolai Patrushev, who took over most of the presidential powers in the country, was confirmed. It means that the Tucker Carlson interview is actuallythe West-focused Russian information operation. To the accuracy of 100% we predicted the content of the questions and the general narratives that the Kremlin embodied in this interview. The neo-Nazi messages that were reacted by Berlin and Warsaw were more than unexpected. In fact, distortion and falsification of history is the Kremlin’s hallmark. Previously, Russia actively used them only in the context of propaganda to explain the Kremlin’s decisions. With the help of Carlson, the Kremlin’s disinformation and propaganda were brought into the information space and agreed with the press service of President Putin. 

Carlson’s interview reminds the work of Walter Duranty, the New York Times correspondent, who in 1929 interviewed Joseph Stalin to whiten him from the crimes and terror of the communists in the Soviet Union. Tucker Carlson’s interview demonstrates imperial phantom pains, which are similar to the Germans’experiences after the First World War and which gave a birth to Hitler’s regime and the beginning of the Second World War.

And the odious Tucker Carlson, who is prophesied for the position of vice president of the USA under President Donald Trump, acted as a “microphone stand” in front of Putin. Probably, Carlson’s political ambitions triggered him to agree to accept the Kremlin’s order.

This trip to Moscow may cost Carlson not only his reputation as an “uncompromising journalist”, but also his freedom. According to the American outlet Newsweek, Tucker Carlson may face charges of espionage under current US law. At the same time, the members of the European Parliament call to consider the issue of imposing an “entry ban” on Carlson, who in Brussels is called the “mouthpiece” of former President Donald Trump and Putin. “Because Putin is a war criminal, and the EU applies sanctions to everyone who helps him in these efforts, it seems logical that the External Action Service should also look into his case,” Newsweek quoted a source in the European Parliament.

Same fate may befall Tucker Carlson’s colleague, lawyer Robert Amsterdam and other lobbyists hired by the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukrainec to lobby its interests in the West. Last autumn Carlson published an extremely manipulative interview with Amsterdam, where they lied about the “persecution of Christians”, the “banning of churches” and the fact that “priests are thrown behind bars”.

By a “strange” coincidence, a few days after Carlson’s visit to Moscow, it became known that Robert Amsterdam was going to Kyiv “to warn representatives of the government and parliament (of Ukraine) against making a mistake and not to give them a chance to organize a second reading for the draft law No. 8371 on the prohibition of religious organizations associated with the aggressor state”. The introduction of this bill is due to the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, used by the Kremlin for intelligence, propaganda and disinformation activities. Since 2014, Moscow has used church parishes in eastern Ukraine to store weapons, ammunition, as well as host militants and obtain information about the movements of the AFU. In fact, the same as with the Carlson-Putin interview, UOC (MP) lobbyists consciously or unconsciously embody narratives of Russian propaganda, but without even understanding the nuances of the Ukrainian religious situation.

The Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine has been using the services of international lawyers to defend its interests against the Ukrainian state for several months. These lawyers, in turn, hired lobbyist William Burke-White, who is already known for his previous The Hill piece.

In his Foreign Agent Registration (FARA) Declaration, filed with the U.S. Department of Justice, lobbyist has stated he represented the interests of the “Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.” Last year he received $7000 for spreading narratives that allegedly the Russian Orthodox Church was persecuted in Ukraine. Mr.Burke-White’s lobbying work is financed by Vadim Novinsky, a Russian oligarch who has close ties to the Kremlin and the exiled President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovich. Novynskyi, who is a protodeacon with the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, has appointed Amsterdam & Partners LLP and a team of international lawyers to address false accusations, seizures of assets he historically held, and potential trumped up charges being fabricated by high-level government officials in Kyiv. Although last year Novynskyi relinquished his ownership of Smart Holding Group, the Ukrainian authorities are continuing their corporate raid against the industrial and investment group, under the premise that Novynskyi’s religious beliefs justify doing so. According to Robert Amsterdam in an April 2017 article in The Independent, there was “no question” that the FBI and United States intelligence agencies had information about Russian entities that had financial relationships with Trump prior to the 2016 United States elections. Amsterdam was retained by the Russian company Yukos-Group MENATEP to defend former CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky who is now collaborating with GRU (Russian mil intel). This connection explains Amsterdam’s interaction with Novinsky, who in turn is linked to the Russian oligarch Malofeev, actively involved in GRU operations in Ukraine.

There are three religious organizations that include “Ukrainian Orthodox Church” in their names:

• Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), led by Metropolitan Epiphanius (Dumenko), an entity registered as “Kyiv Metropolis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Orthodox Church of Ukraine).”
• Ukrainian Orthodox Church (in unity with the Moscow Patriarchate, also called Russian Orthodox church in Ukraine) (UOC MP), led by Metropolitan Onuphrius (Berezovsky).
• Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC KP), led by Patriarch Emeritus Filaret (Denisenko), which de jure is a part of the OCU but continues to function separately.

In the same declaration William Burke-White indicated the address (20 Kyiv Taras Shevchenko Boulevard) of the organization whose interests he represents is even more alarming. At this address there is St. Vladimir’s Cathedral, which is the seat of Patriarch Emeritus Filaret.

William Burke-White did not respond to a request to comment on this discrepancy. His employer, lawyer Robert Amsterdam, initially agreed to an interview but later declined, citing “busy schedule”, despite providing comments and interviews to other journalists.

The office of Patriarch Filaret expressed surprise and disavowed any knowledge of the use of their cathedral’s address by the American lobbyist. Father Oleksandr Shmurhyhin, responsible for media relations, emphasized that neither he nor the cathedral’s principal had been contacted by the American lobbyist. “Only our community of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate, only Patriarch Filaret serves in St. Volodymyr’s Cathedral. The Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine has nothing to do with our cathedral,” father Oleksandr emphasizes. “It looks like some kind of provocation,” the priest added.It appears that lobbyists for the ROC in Ukraine are either operating outside of the norms or is misleading believers and officials as to which church he is representing.