NABU exposes Presidential Office media playbook – what’s the Church link?

Are religion-related opinion polls being manipulated? Photo: OCU

This is far from the first such case involving members of Ukraine’s political elite. Before this came Vice Prime Minister Chernyshov, Justice Minister Halushchenko, Presidential Office head Yermak, Zelensky’s now-notorious associate Timur Mindich, and others.

We would like to draw attention to one detail in the latest allegations that has largely remained under the radar.

NABU published government talking points for media work that were seized during recent searches. The documents concern an “anti-crisis” communications strategy regarding the work of a Verkhovna Rada temporary investigative commission, but there is little reason to doubt that similar instructions are circulated on any issue the authorities want presented in a particular light.

One item in the “Distribution of Roles” section especially caught our attention: experts from the Razumkov Center and the Ukrainian Institute for the Future are designated as a “neutral voice.” Notably, the quotation marks appear in the document itself. In other words, according to the talking points, these organizations are not actually neutral – they are simply voicing messages handed down from above.

Why does this matter? Because the Razumkov Center and the Ukrainian Institute for the Future regularly publish opinion polls on church affairs which claim that the OCU enjoys support many times greater than that of the UOC. The authorities and the OCU itself then present these figures as established scientific fact – as supposed proof that the Ukrainian people do not support the UOC and favor its destruction.

So there we have it – a rather simple scheme uncovered almost by accident. And something tells us that there is still a great deal more we are going to learn.

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