Rep Gaetz and Sen Vance Probe Ukraine 'Enemies List'
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday seeking information about the State Department’s ties to a Ukrainian organization that compiled a list of hundreds of individuals and organizations who oppose US military aid to Ukraine.
The NGO Texty.org.ua included Antiwar.com and several of its staff members [and ZeroHedge] in the report, which was titled “Roller Coaster: From Trumpists to Communists. The forces in the US impeding aid to Ukraine and how they do it.” Gaetz and Vance’s letter noted that the list included 116 House Republicans and 21 Republican senators.
Gaetz and Vance described the report as a “substantively thin piece, largely an excuse to smear a large group of Americans who have been skeptical of aid to Ukraine in one form or another. But it is being broadcast as a part of a coordinated media strategy that has all the hallmarks of a US-targeting influence operation.”
Anatoly Bondarenko, one of the founders of Texty.org.ua, has worked as an instructor for a State Department program known as TechCamp, which provides training for foreign journalists and activists.
“If this were merely some random news outlet in a foreign nation, such a hit piece would be easily ignored. But the founder of the group itself, Anatoly Bondarenko, is listed on a US government website as supported by the United States Department of State,” the Republican lawmakers wrote.
They noted that it was not the first time a Ukrainian organization published a list of Americans in an effort to smear them. In July 2022, the Center for Countering Disinformation, a Ukrainian government agency, issued a list of individuals it accused of pushing “Russian narratives,” including prominent American foreign policy analysts and current and former members of Congress.
American tax dollars should not be used to target American lawmakers!
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) June 12, 2024
Today, Senator @JDVance1 and I sent a letter to Secretary Blinken demanding answers about a State Department-linked Ukrainian NGO publishing a list of lawmakers and labeling us as "enemies" of Ukraine for… pic.twitter.com/5ISxu2YReU
Gaetz and Vance asked Blinken to provide the following to assess if there’s been a violation of US law related to the Texty.org.ua list:
- Provide all releasable material related to Department of State support for Anatoly Bondarenko or Texty.org or Texty.org.ua, including copies of any grant agreements or assurances provided by any of those parties to the Department from January 1, 2022, to June 11, 2024; and
- Provide a list of any Department of State directives, master agreements, or other policies that outline obligations of grantees or subgrantees of the Department relevant to the above publication, if any; and
- Provide a list of any grants or other awards by the Department to Anatoly Bondarenko or Texty.org or Texty.org.ua, and the dates and amounts of those awards; and
- Inform us whether or not the Department of State is initiating any investigation into violations of Departmental policy regarding this