Deputy head of the Petro Poroshenko's Bloc parliamentary faction Oleksiy Honcharenko has announced a launch of the ProUkraine campaign designed to improve Ukraine's image in the Netherlands, which will organize a referendum on the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU.
“As the day of the referendum on the ratification of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement approaches, the number of fake news, invented by the Kremlin propaganda machine, rises. Capitalizing on the increased number of terrorist attacks in Europe, Russia tries to portray Ukrainians as terrorists,” Honcharenko wrote on Facebook on Jan. 21.
He recalled a recent video clip, which allegedly showed Azov battalion fighters, who were threatening the Dutch with terrorist attacks in case the referendum on association fails. “The investigation easily revealed the Russian trace of this information provocation”, said the deputy.
“The flow of blatant lies about Ukraine and the Ukrainians has recently swept the Netherlands. This suggests that Ukraine’s European choice is still a big threat to Putin’s Russia, despite the serious economic and political problems inside Russia. On the other hand, the reason why Ukraine found itself forced to apologize, lies in the lack of effort in shaping our positive image in Europe ,” Honcharenko said.
“If we do not want to again find ourselves on the margin of the European civilization, to remain in the sphere of influence the eastern neighbor, get even more bogged down in corruption, poverty and obscurantism, we need to take action. With this regard, I am initiating a campaign ProUkraine, which will be aimed at improving Ukraine’s image in the Netherlands “, the deputy stated.
The Netherlands plan to hold a public-initiated referendum on the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement on April 6, 2016.
