Russian terrorist and former defense minister of 'DPR' Igor Girkin (Strelkov) expressed his criticism of the Kremlin over the appearance of former Ukrainian president-in-exile Viktor Yanukovych. According to Girkin, Russian propaganda made a mistake by publishing Yanukovych's statements in which he supports narratives about a 'bad Europe'.
“By God, if Yanukovych (or, as he is called, Yanukovoch) were to support Zelensky and Ukraine now, he would be much more useful for our cause than when he supports the theses voiced by our propaganda...”
“I don’t know who allowed Yanukovych to publish these statements. It would be better if this monster, this vile creature never appeared in Russian television and radio broadcasts, so that he could be forgotten forever. This is the best thing that can be done,” added the occupier.
In his first statement in a long time, Yanukovych spoke about targeted work towards Ukraine's rapprochement with the European Union and joined the campaign to blame Europe. The Institute for the Study of War believes that the publication of Yanukovych's video appeal may be related to Putin's speech at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.
In his statement, the 'DPR' terrorist expressed his criticism of Kremlin propaganda over the media appearance of Viktor Yanukovych's video address, where he supported narratives about a negative image of Europe. This event caused dissonance among supporters of Russian influence, including Girkin, who believes that Yanukovych could be more useful if he supported Ukraine and Zelensky rather than echoing propagandistic theses.