Interview with the popular Ukrainian TV presenter of the DOM TV channel

— You are a popular Ukrainian TV presenter, an honored journalist and today you work for the DOM TV channel. For me, this is natural even because the media have become one of the tools of confrontation and a real front line runs through their “territory”. How do you feel on this “line”?

— DOM, by and large, is an international broadcasting channel of Ukraine, UA TV. It started working in March 2020 as a channel for the temporarily occupied territories, and I was invited to work there… The very idea of creating such a channel impresses me, because it was long overdue. After all, if we have been claiming for the seventh (!) year that the occupied lands in the East, where the fighting continues, are Ukraine, then we need to communicate with the people who found themselves there not due to their own free will…

We talk about what might be interesting for citizens living in the occupied territories. Ukrainian channels help us with their content. From March 2021, we are supposed to broadcast 24 hours a day and the channel will be watched abroad as well. We hope to make interested a wide audience.

— But news with Russian narrative can be found in the media today on almost all continents…

— I haven’t been able to watch Russian channels for a long time because of their aggressive and hysterical propaganda. And I’m not alone, because 95 % of their news about Ukraine is a blatant lie. One can only watch “Nastoyaschee Vremya” (“The Present Moment” — Transl.) — a project created by “Radio Liberty” — the office is located in Prague. This is where more or less objective information is given in Russian, but about the whole world…

I am sure that there are many people on the other side of the line who are able to think, analyze and draw objective conclusions! It is they who listen to the truth, they can be influenced in the best sense of the word. Also, part of the local population defends its Ukrainianness, although it is very difficult to do so. There are people from those territories working on the DOM/DIM channel…

Today there are many things we need to know. But we do not know, neither do our citizens, having found themselves in the occupied territories against their will. This is what we need to talk about in our media.

— During this war…

— Yes, during the war, which can also be called strange…

— Do you think our media have enough honest materials about the modern war that do impress the society?

— I am always interested in such materials, but they mostly tend to state individual facts. I closely follow the reports by Andrii Tsapliienko, Hennadii Vivdenko, Nataliia Nahorna, with whom I am personally acquainted and who, being on the front line, try to tell us about those who honestly perform their military duty. Only true Ukrainian citizens can serve in the army, on the front line. It is on their shoulders that Ukraine rests, and its future depends on them, not on politicians.

— In adulthood, you went to the Middle East, where Ukrainians were performing a peacekeeping mission. Compare your then vision of hostilities with what you see today? I confess, when I had the opportunity to directly observe the hostilities in the former Yugoslavia, my first thought after what I saw there was: God, please, do not let this happen to Ukraine!

—Yet, it never occurred to me then that this could happen in our peaceful Ukraine! The geopolitical decision of the then leadership of the state was made in order to gain independence for Ukraine. To do this, we even gave away nuclear weapons! But, as we see, it did not save us from war on our land. We started realizing very late that everything could have been completely different…

Sometimes I think that the current trials were natural for us, because they made us, Ukrainians, start forming our army. It’s like a pandemic that has forced to stop destroying our medicine, which had long been neglected. Yes, medicine lacks a lot, it functioned according to the Semashko system, that is, as an extreme, when it is necessary to determine the reasons for problems and eliminate them immediately! It needs to be reformed, but not at the expense of loss of experts! We keep forgetting that although countries differ from each other, there is a common, basic system of values that no one and nowhere should despise! In the West, this is better understood and is an example for us. We are now convinced once again that the future lies in democracies, in democracy. And the European Union is the system that unites countries with the same values for all…

Yes, Ukraine is at the epicenter of geopolitical interests. And for some reason we gave the military base with the headquarters in Sevastopol to the Russians, and now we are suffering as a result of once carelessly signed “gift” agreements, hearing that such a situation can be resolved solely in a peaceful way…

— …creating a free economic zone in the Donbas, or, as it is called, an agglomeration, where large funds will be invested for industrial development, job creation, which in the case of implementation of such a plan will turn into a primitive deriban (stealing — Transl.), as it happened in 2014, when on the Russian-occupied territories, large enterprises were cut into scrap metal, production facilities were stolen and taken away to Russia.

— Yes, this is an extremely difficult topic. If any politician ever manages to find a solution to the problem of “complete ceasefire and economic recovery of the occupied regions” (although, these are TWO problems!) — he will go down in history as a genius!

— …Now we are in a state of information war, when journalists practically play the role of its soldiers. Imagine a situation where the management for some reason offered you to publish information from a certain point of view, which you do not like. What will you do?

— A difficult choice! It happened when I didn’t like the presentation of information and I protested. Our TV channel is state-owned. Sometimes I want to dilute some official information or publish it less often. But we report on the events that are actually happening, you can’t deny them. The road was paved, the bridge was restored, and that is a fact. What’s wrong here? To tell the truth, I don’t think that our journalists deliberately distort something. For example, I strongly disagree with the fact that news should start with crime. There must be separate formats for this and there are! This also applies to “fried facts” about some outstanding people or about the carelessness of incompetent citizens. It is good for the society to learn about large-scale events that affect everyone! We have the right to know how our country is living today, what awaits it tomorrow, what is going on in neighbouring countries, and how it affects us… I emphasize that the need for objective information in Russian for the population of the occupied territories is extremely high. And all over the world! Because our stories about the same Nagorno-Karabakh, about the events in Belarus — have millions of views on social networks. The explanation is simple: viewers no longer perceive Russian narrative, they seek to know the truth about Ukraine — in particular!

…Now it is explained that the editorial policy of some of our TV channels is oriented to the West or America, others — to the East. I do not think so. In the same West or in the United States, there are different TV channels, and the people who pay for television “vote” by dollars, pressing the button of the program of their choice…

If you think of it, news is almost always a negative message. The plane crashed, the bridge collapsed, the car burned down, our military died — this is such a negative series. And from it they choose what to tell. Here the human factor begins to work — the nature of the news editor, TV presenter, channel manager. Their idea of importance, their style. But there must be a balance. Always a balance!

Our TV channel is a state one, which tells about the work of the government, state structures, about what is important for everyone — that’s how it should be. About what people need to know, on what their lives depend. For example, what happens to tariffs and how to get out of the “tariff dead end” in which we found ourselves? Because regional gas companies and regional power companies became private. And what must the government, which is responsible for the welfare of the country, now do to avoid dire consequences for the population. After all, the praised mechanism of control does not fulfill its functions, regional gas companies do not care about state policy and our low-income citizens, the number of which is increasing exponentially…

— I know that you had to ask questions during interviews with well-known people. Without going into the content of the conversations, whom and why do you remember best?

— Nathan Sharansky, whom I was lucky enough to interview. An iconic figure, a fighter for rights and freedoms, a well-known politician who comes from Donetsk…

I once spoke in front of a TV camera with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now a former one, and noted how he clearly answers the questions. His reaction is instantaneous, the phrases are meaningful and short, he knows the essence of the matter not superficially, he gives specific examples. He has Ukrainian roots, his family is from the Cossack region — Belgorod province…

— If you were offered, in addition to the programs you are currently running, to make a program with our politicians, whom would you invite to the TV studio?

— …At one time I was impressed by Heorhii Kyrpa. I did not know him personally, but a week before his death we were standing on the stage, where he was given a state award. He looked unhappy, something was already disturbing him. But everyone knows how he dealt with public affairs, how he built the railway infrastructure. I remember that all of a sudden, after a decade of devastation, the carriages of our trains became clean, and new dry linen appeared. And what school he built at the Artek camp with modern classrooms and high-tech equipment…

It would be interesting to talk to People’s Deputy Iryna Herashchenko, with whom we once worked together on the Inter TV channel. She is passionate and consistent. Of the young politicians, I like Dmytro Razumkov, I remember his father, Oleksandr Razumkov, I knew his mother, the People’s Actor of Ukraine Nataliia Kudria. He is smart, because he managed to bring to power the current team where he was the campaign manager…

— You used to cover such political events as the meeting of the “Group of Seven” (G7), the G20 summit, the Bilderberg meeting and so on. During such work, did you feel the importance of such meetings for Ukraine, which “neighbors” with the same Russia, which, as you say, should not be underestimated?

— Not as a politician, but as a TV journalist, I believe that such geopolitical events are extremely important, because they are trying to determine the further development of our world. If they make any decisions about the Russian Federation as an aggressor country, it concerns us DIRECTLY and must be covered by us. As well as what affects universal principles, as has happened with Trump’s recent actions… Note that the United States also has problems with the younger generation, and politicians in particular. Now there are people of respectable age in power, and such opponents are competing for the highest seats in power. It is also worth noting that there are many erudite people in the world (as well as in Ukraine), but absolutely demonic in nature, programmed for destruction, for eliminating what prevents them from getting rich… We must know them, their faces must not leave the TV screens, where it should be said: “this is a thief, he did this and that”. And such people have no right to return to power.

It is not for nothing that the United States imposed sanctions on such tricksters. I support those sanctions with both hands. Because at least in this way the dishonest should be named for their frauds. This concerns the story with the members of the supervisory board of Ukrzaliznytsia, who receive a hefty salary… No company must pay supervisors, there is no such practice anywhere in the world. But in this country — here you are! Both, in Ukrzaliznytsia, and in Ukroboronprom. And a journalist should always have one main thing that he must constantly take care of — his reputation.

— What topics of TV programs do you consider useful for our society?

— I am interested in programs related to the system of values, historical heritage, cultural background. It must be acknowledged that it will no longer be as it once was, and with further development of the society there will be new problems, new challenges, new ways of development. We need to be ready, we do not have the right to resist the new, but, on the contrary, to be aware, because we have to change with the world.

Once, back in 2014, when the Russians captured Crimea and began hostilities in the Donbas, a Hungarian actor I knew told me how the Austro-Hungarian Empire collapsed after the First World War and some of its Hungarian citizens became part of other newly formed states. Hungary, he said, then lost 80 % of its territory… As we can see, world events always lead to changes that need to be studied, which should not only be forecasted in time, but also appropriate measures should be taken to ensure that humanity does not suffer irreparable losses, but moves forward and develops. The people of the planet Earth have different points of view, different worldviews, but something in common must remain for them, which would ensure their further decent coexistence. I repeat: this is a system of values. I am interested in communicating with individuals who can positively influence this system. I call them moral authorities. Every country has such authorities.

— Without thinking, whom are you ready to mention now?

— Liubomyr Huzar, Vasyl Symonenko, Bohdan Havrylyshyn.

— As for the gentlemen you mentioned, I fully understand and agree. And whom else?

— First of all — the poet and citizen Lina Kostenko, whom I consider Number One among moral authorities. She “does not wear political jewelry” — these are the words with which Lina Vasylivna renounced the title of Hero of Ukraine and was not afraid to say so to President Yushchenko. For the first time, I was lucky enough to meet and communicate with her at the presentation of Pavlo Tychyna’s collection of poetry “Solar Clarinets”, which was not published in Soviet times. And I will mention in this series the head of UNIAR (Ukrainian Independent News Agency “Respublika”), journalist and fighter for freedom of speech in Ukraine Serhii Naboka. It was he who initiated the publication of an information digest, which became an alternative to state news, and aired on the UTAR TV channel “UNIAR News”, which I once hosted. He is a member of the Helsinki Group and was jailed as a political prisoner from 1980 to 1983.

…Speaking of reputable Ukrainians, I catch myself thinking that I already perceive differently what my parents taught me. Because now the experience is greater than it was in our youth or the experience of our parents which also had its pros and cons. But those were other, Soviet times, which are historical past, and they are exactly as we remember and value. Even in different ways, because we live in different countries. My relatives living in Belarus perceive what is happening in Ukraine in their own way, because their perception seems to be the same as it was in Soviet times. Communicating, I say that only later they will understand our events, our Maidan. And now this time of trials has come for Belarus — there is now a process of rethinking and struggle for their rights. I feel that it would be difficult for me personally to live in a country where there is a different mentality, where there is no freedom and democracy. I have long dreamed of one thing — a free, independent and very successful country for the people — my Ukraine.

Recorded by Oleh Makhno

The full interview you can read in the “BINTEL” Geopolitical Analytics Journal, Issue 4, 2020.