On a Sunday afternoon in mid-February, a small however politically charged occasion befell within the coronary heart of Amsterdam.
A bunch of eight folks gathered for a photo-op protest on town’s Dam Sq. holding placards that referred to as for an finish to Western arms deliveries to Ukraine and the removing of President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The occasion was a part of a global marketing campaign that levels small protests in a number of nations to advocate for elections in Ukraine, its organizers wrote on Fb. Martial regulation imposed in Ukraine on the outset of Russia’s full-scale invasion prohibits the nation from holding elections.
The Dutch neighborhood web page that referred to as on folks to take part within the protest claimed the occasion was “coordinated by Ukrainian refugees.” Surprisingly sufficient, it seems there have been no Ukrainians on the gathering.
Of the eight demonstrators who confirmed up in Amsterdam, 5 had been Dutch and two had been Russian. The identification of 1 stays unverified by the Kyiv Unbiased.
With out attracting a lot consideration on the streets, members quietly unfolded their placards bearing blunt and provocative messages: “Ukraine is evil for Dutch taxpayers” and “Zelensky! Cease killing your folks!” One other learn “Sponsoring Kiev is sponsoring terrorism in opposition to Ukrainians,” utilizing the Russian spelling for Ukraine’s capital metropolis Kyiv.
No Ukrainian flags had been seen on the protest, regardless of the organizers’ declare that Ukrainians had coordinated the occasion. The one nation flag current was Russian, with the phrases “Peace with Russia” written on it.
Protesters took turns posing with totally different posters. The messages on the posters warned of conflict between NATO and Russia, calling for a Ukraine with out Zelensky, blaming Zelensky for Russia’s full-scale invasion, and demanding the tip of “pressured mobilization” in Ukraine.
Whereas a small occasion, the gathering was half of a bigger anti-Ukraine motion posing as a peace initiative that has been ongoing for over two years.
The Kyiv IndependentAlisa Yurchenko
Community of Dutch Russians
After the onset of Russia’s full-scale invasion, a bunch of Dutch activists took to the streets in response to what they perceived because the institution and media inciting warmongering and hatred towards Russia. Since February 2023, the group, which operates underneath the identify “Vredesdemonstratie” that means “Peace Demonstration” in Dutch, has been holding month-to-month protests.
At these occasions, demonstrators advocate for ending navy help for Ukraine — who they blame for the conflict together with NATO — and making peace with Russia. Their banners normally function phrases corresponding to “No weapons for peace” or “Peace with Russia” in each Dutch and English.
The overseas navy help, together with help from the Netherlands, which the group so passionately opposes, has been vital to Ukraine’s means to defend itself from Russia’s invasion.
Amongst particular person nations, the Netherlands ranks fifth in whole navy help, contributing 5.88 billion euros between Jan. 24, 2022, and Dec. 31, 2024, in line with the Kiel Institute for the World Financial system, which tracks help to Ukraine.
Though they current themselves as a motion of “pacifist idealists,” members of Peace Demonstration make their calls for solely of Ukraine and its supporters, and by no means of Russia.
The rationale for this method turns into clear as quickly as one seems on the composition of the members: lots of the most lively protesters at these rallies are Dutch Russians — migrants of Russian origin who settled within the Netherlands way back. Some have lived within the Netherlands for over 20 years.
The group’s demonstrations typically function Russian flags and generally embrace cultural performances, corresponding to singing conventional songs, dancing, and carrying conventional apparel.
Regardless of their clear ties to Russian tradition, the protesters by no means determine as being members of the Russian diaspora. It seems that they purposefully hold the origin of the protests blurry, attempting to move the occasions as Dutch or Ukrainian.
Amongst these posing with a Russian flag in a latest photo-op protest was Natalia Vorontsova, often known as Nata Heezen. As a co-organizer, she is a key determine in almost each Peace Demonstration occasion.
Initially from Russia’s southwestern metropolis of Voronezh, Vorontsova has lived within the Netherlands for over 20 years. She works as a nurse in psychological well being care.
Alongside fellow activists Nikita Ananjev and Elena Plotnikova, she has been lobbying for Russian pursuits within the Netherlands since 2014, the yr when Russia invaded Ukraine’s Crimea and the japanese a part of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
Campaigning within the Netherlands
In 2016, Vorontsova joined a marketing campaign organized by the Dutch Socialist Social gathering that introduced collectively a bunch of Russians and Ukrainians with pro-Russian views to advocate in opposition to Ukraine’s European integration in a Dutch referendum.
Regardless of a low turnout of 32.2%, Dutch voters rejected the EU-Ukraine Affiliation Settlement. The vote was non-binding and didn’t overturn the settlement, which had already been ratified by the opposite 27 EU member states.
Alongside Vorontsova, two different distinguished campaigners had been Nikita Ananjev — a Russian who previously chaired the Russian Pupil Affiliation within the Netherlands — and Elena Plotnikova, who describes herself on X as a “Russian from Donetsk,” a Ukrainian metropolis that has been underneath occupation since 2014.
Three years later, in 2019, all three had been concerned in one other group — the Dutch department of the International Rights of Peaceable Folks (GRPP) worldwide platform, which has advocated for Russian-controlled forces in japanese Ukraine. Ananjev is launched in one of many platform’s movies because the president of the Dutch Committee of GRPP, whereas Plotnikova managed the group’s e-mail correspondence. The GRPP is deregistered from the Dutch Chamber of Commerce. It’s not identified why its registration was canceled.
GRPP organized a press convention aimed toward discrediting an official investigation carried out by the Joint Investigation Group (JIT) into the downing of Malaysia Airways Flight MH17 in japanese Ukraine. In accordance with the JIT’s conclusions, Russia's navy delivered a Buk missile fired by Russian-controlled militants in July 2014, killing all 298 folks on board, together with 196 Dutch residents.
On the press convention, the place Vorontsova served as host, a documentary by a former Russia At the moment journalist Yana Yerlashova and a Dutch blogger Max van der Werff was offered. The movie seeks to discredit the official MH17 investigation and deny Russia’s accountability for the airplane’s downing.
The movie’s creators are greatest identified for his or her involvement with Bonanza Media, a venture broadly considered a part of the Kremlin’s disinformation efforts.
A joint investigation by Bellingcat and The Insider revealed proof that Bonanza Media coordinated with Russia’s navy intelligence service (identified by its Russian acronym GRU) to downplay Russia’s involvement within the MH17 downing. Investigators additionally found that Plotnikova was concerned with Bonanza Media.
At the moment, it seems, Vorontsova’s primary focus is solely on co-organizing Peace Demonstration occasions within the Netherlands the place she’s one of many key faces and voices heard.
She maintains shut ties with Russian state media, together with TASS and RIA Novosti, whose correspondents typically attend the demonstrations and interview Vorontsova for his or her articles. The revealed supplies are later reshared by Vorontsova within the on-line teams for protest members. Whereas their demonstrations appeal to little consideration from the Dutch media, they obtain in depth protection in Russia, making them seem to be a large-scale motion.
In the meantime, Plotnikova stays lively totally on social media and inside the Peace Demonstration neighborhood. In 2023, she delivered a speech at one of many demonstrations.
Embracing conspiratorial narratives about “NATO missiles killing civilians,” Vorontsova’s demonstrations appeal to people from each far-left and far-right populist circles, united by their pro-Russian sentiment. The pool of visitor audio system ranges from communists in anti-fascist actions to MPs from the Dutch far-right get together Discussion board for Democracy (FvD).
An investigation by the Dutch newspaper NRC discovered that Vorontsova could have acquired funding for her actions from Volunteers of Victory — a Russian government-funded group that glorifies Russian navy patriotism throughout World Conflict II and helps Russian troopers combating in Ukraine. Regardless of Volunteers of Victory being sanctioned by the EU, its Dutch department Victory Group 75 Netherlands stays lively by working unofficially and avoiding formal registration.
In a dialog with the Kyiv Unbiased, Vorontsova denied any involvement with the Dutch department of Volunteers of Victory, stating that she had solely worn a cap with the group’s brand that she acquired as a present, however had no connection to the group. She additionally emphasised that she is an unbiased activist, acts on her personal, and isn’t financially supported by anybody. In accordance with Vorontsova, she funds the demonstrations with donations from supporters.
One other participant of the February photograph shoot in Amsterdam, Iolanta DuCroix, often known as Klimaite Bardash, seems in a number of photographs on the Instagram web page of the native department of Volunteers of Victory. A Russian-born resident of the Netherlands, DuCroix assisted Vorontsova in holding a Russian flag through the photograph shoot.
One other participant, Nikita Ananjev, can be a distinguished determine within the Russian Volunteers of Victory motion. Referred to as a coordinator of the Dutch department, he appears to be current at almost each one of many group’s occasions. He was additionally a consultant of the Coordination Council of Russian Compatriots within the Netherlands, a corporation that works carefully with the Russian embassy.
After Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ananjev overtly expressed pro-Putin views. On his web page on Vkontakte — a Russian social media platform — he reposted a picture stating: "Kyiv will both be Russian or abandoned. And we're wonderful with it being abandoned too."
When requested about her cooperation with Ananjev, given his lively involvement with organizations affiliated with Russia, Vorontsova informed the Kyiv Unbiased that she has not seen Ananjev in years nor collaborated with him on any actions since they had been each a part of the Dutch department of the Worldwide Platform International Rights of Peaceable Folks (GRPP).
The Kyiv IndependentAlisa Yurchenko
A Ukrainian defector and a Soviet-era emigrant
Though Peace Demonstration’s messaging seems to mirror Russian pursuits, its members declare that Ukrainians are additionally amongst their representatives.
After analyzing dozens of members within the group’s demonstrations, the Kyiv Unbiased discovered just one Ukrainian who truly spoke in individual at their protests. The group’s web site and social media current the supposed Ukrainian consultant as “Elena from Kiev,” utilizing the Russian spelling for each her identify and Ukraine’s capital.
In actuality, “Elena from Kiev” has not lived in Ukraine for the reason that Nineties, having spent a number of years in Afghanistan earlier than settling within the Netherlands, in line with an interview she gave to AlternatiefTV in August 2023. Her expertise of Ukraine is restricted to the Soviet period.
Like different members within the rallies, Elena’s views, as she expressed them within the interview with Alternatief TV, align with a line of Kremlin propaganda that insists Ukrainians and Russians are "the identical folks.” This view is broadly rejected in Ukraine. A 2022 ballot discovered that 91% of Ukrainians don’t think about Russia and Ukraine to be “one folks.”
Two different Ukrainians appeared on the demonstrations by way of video message, supposedly from Russia. Considered one of them, Dmitry Vasilets, is a pro-Kremlin propaganda blogger. In 2024, he was sentenced in absentia by a Ukrainian court docket to 5 years in jail for justifying Russia's aggression in opposition to Ukraine, in addition to advocating for a violent overthrow of the federal government.
Vasilet’s felony file dates again to 2017 when he was convicted of facilitating the published of a Russian propaganda channel in Russian-occupied elements of japanese Ukraine. He spent two years in a pre-trial detention middle in Ukraine.
In accordance with Ukrainian regulation enforcement, eleven days earlier than Russia's full-scale invasion, he fled Ukraine for Egypt and later settled in Moscow, the place he declared himself the secretary of the so-called “Consultant Workplace of the Ukrainian Folks” — a physique not acknowledged by Ukraine.
At Vorontsova’s demonstrations, Vasilets seems on the LED display screen, calling himself a frontrunner of the Ukrainian get together Derzhava in exile. Nonetheless, Derzhava was banned in Ukraine in 2022 as a result of its ties to Russia and was so unpopular that it by no means gained parliamentary illustration. Throughout its solely try to get into parliament in 2006 as a part of the "State-Labor Union" bloc, it earned simply 0.14% of the vote.
Furthermore, the Peace Demonstration group additionally claimed to have Ukrainian unbiased press at certainly one of their press conferences however didn’t specify which outlet. The Kyiv Unbiased discovered just one non-Dutch media platform overlaying the occasion — Vasilets’ pro-Russian Telegram channel, Mriya.
The biography of the second Ukrainian, who participated just about in occasions organized by Peace Demonstrations within the Netherlands, is not any much less vivid and much from Ukraine.
The Kyiv IndependentKostiantyn Nechyporenko
Yanukovych period fugitives
Judging by the social media posts of Peace Demonstration the worldwide pro-Russian photograph shoots seem like coordinated by one other Moscow-based group, the Union of Political Emigrants and Political Prisoners of Ukraine.
Its spokesperson, Leonid Ilderkin, is talked about in posts associated to a earlier worldwide pro-Russian marketing campaign that options nearly equivalent scripted messages selling anti-NATO and anti-Zelensky messages.
Ilderkin appeared in a video message for Peace Demonstrations as a so-called “Ukrainian opposition determine in exile.” Within the video, he blames the U.S. and Europe for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
A local of Dnipro, Ukraine, Ilderkin was beforehand an activist within the pro-Russian communist group Borotba, that means “wrestle” in Ukrainian. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, Borotba members supported the occupation of japanese Ukraine, with some even taking on arms on the Russian aspect. After fleeing Ukraine that very same yr, the group now operates from Russia and just lately participated in an occasion titled the Worldwide Anti-fascist Discussion board in Russian-occupied Luhansk Oblast.
In accordance with paperwork obtained by the unbiased Russian anti-corruption venture File Heart, Russia's navy intelligence company (identified by its Russian acronym GRU) tried to make use of organizations linked to Ilderkin to coordinate with the European radical left and recruit people for protests and acts of sabotage. The Kyiv Unbiased couldn’t independently confirm this data.
The Union of Political Emigrants and Political Prisoners of Ukraine, which has been given a platform by Dutch demonstrations, consists of pro-Russian fugitives.
Amongst them is Mykola Azarov, Ukraine’s former prime minister underneath Kremlin-backed President Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted following the EuroMaidan Revolution in 2014. Azarov participated in a gathering organized by the Union of Political Emigrants in late 2016.
Russian demonstration community in Europe
Though the Union of Political Emigrants and Political Prisoners of Ukraine has little media presence and minimal affect on social media, it helps different pro-Russian demonstrations past the Netherlands.
As an illustration, a so-called “Ukrainian political prisoner” from the union addressed pro-Russian demonstrators within the U.Ok. on-line from Moscow in August 2024. The “political prisoner” within the video handle is the Union’s chairwoman, Larisa Shesler. She is needed by Ukrainian regulation enforcement for “undermining Ukraine’s territorial integrity.”
Shesler, a Ukrainian, performed a key function in undermining pro-European protests within the Ukrainian metropolis of Mykolaiv in 2013-2014. She coordinated the native anti-protest motion and arranged pro-Russian rallies earlier than finally fleeing to Russia.
The Kyiv Unbiased discovered and verified that she had obtained Russian citizenship.
Shesler’s video message to the British pro-Russian demonstrations was picked up and promoted by Theo Russell from the U.Ok.-based Worldwide Ukraine Anti-Fascist Solidarity motion. Russell, a British activist, can be concerned within the Dutch group Peace Demonstration, having spoken at occasions and steadily posted in neighborhood teams.
In the meantime, the YouTube channel Chega Serna English, which has been sharing movies of “Ukrainian political prisoners,” posts footage from pro-Russian rallies in cities like Washington, D.C., Sacramento, Paris, and notably Amsterdam.
The footage reveals a recurring sample — constant messaging, tone, and symbols, together with Soviet and Russian flags. A unifying theme runs by means of these rallies: a push to finish navy help to Ukraine, a vital lifeline for its protection. This mirrors what was seen in Amsterdam.
Russian affect in Europe stays robust, backed by an unlimited community of pro-Kremlin actors, a few of whom are hiding behind Ukrainian names.
Be aware from the creator:
Hello, I’m Linda Hourani, the creator of this story. Thanks for studying!
I hope this piece serves as a reminder that, in instances when Russian disinformation is powerful, it’s essential to remain vital and never be misled. If you happen to’d like to assist us produce extra investigative reviews like this, please think about supporting our work.
The Kyiv IndependentKarol Luczka
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