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RUSSIA'S ANTI-UKRAINIAN BRAINWASHING CONTINUES
Russia wants to rock the gas boat to influence the outcome of the
very important March 26 parliamentary elections in Ukraine.

COMMENTARY: By Volodymyr Hrytsutenko, Lviv, Ukraine
The Action Ukraine Report (AUR), #638, Article 4
Washington, D.C., Tuesday, January 10, 2006

In the wake of the soothing declarations from Russia's Gazprom and
Ukraine's Naftohaz many have been misled into believing that the gas spat
has been sorted out and it's business as usual in Ukraine's relations with
Mother Russia.

This is hardly the case. After watching Russia's Channel 1 on Sunday, Jan.
8, the following conclusions can be made:

1. The smearing of President Viktor Yushchenko has not subsided. On the
contrary, it has even picked up. Our President is portrayed as an
ineffective leader, distancing himself from the country's real needs and
interests as well as showing an ill-conceived craving to integrate Ukraine
into NATO and the EU.

2. The present biased coverage by Russia's media of Ukraine is basically
the same as it has been recently. The earlier accusations of gas siphoning
[theft] are hammered home to Russians - with no alternative coverage from
Putin's pocket media.

3. Russia's Channel 1, for instance, kept absolutely mum about the breaching
by Russia of its long-term gas contract with Ukraine OR the use of fuel
deliveries for political leverage over Ukraine OR the damage done to Russia's
reputation as Europe's reliable partner by the blatant shut-off of gas to
Ukraine.

4. In so doing, Vladimir Putin and his entourage have once again shown that
history lessons are not for them to be learned. They continue to treat
Ukraine with their age-old imperial contempt. Most importantly, they openly
disregard their own people by feeding them lies and brainwashing them into
an openly anti-Ukrainian stance.

5. In the light of what has been said above, the final conclusion is that
Russia does not view the gas spat as settled. On the contrary, the empire is
continuing to blow up the stand-off with Ukraine - to rock the gas boat to
influence the outcome of the very important March 26 parliamentary
elections in Ukraine.