The pro-Russian YouTube channel has become "Vyshka": we will "repaint and re-recruit"

29.01.2024

In January, the “Vyshka” project launched on YouTube, led by former host of the pro-Russian and now banned NEWSONE Lana Shevchuk.

The guests include pro-Russian speakers – Dmytro Spivak, Vadym Karasyov, and other “experts” who have visited currently banned channels and spread hostile narratives.

The new logo for the YouTube channel “Vyshka” was uploaded on January 8 – less than a month ago.

The civic initiative “Holka” decided to investigate what this new project is about and what those who have been diligently shaping the information field in the interests of Ukraine’s enemy are saying about it.

The YouTube channel itself is not really new. It has over 1.1 million subscribers from the start and has already uploaded over 76 new videos, but the old videos are no longer there. The channel was created back in 2018.

If you Google search “Channel Nash” on Youtube.com (a project by Murayev, whose work was blocked by the National Security and Defense Council), it redirects to “Vyshka.”

Who hosts the episodes? Lana. Lana Shevchuk – a former host of NEWSONE, who appeared on the pro-Russian and now banned channel back in 2018. “Detector Media” drew attention to the fact that during this episode, which is on the screen, the host quoted only the position of militants, who are not party to the negotiations at all.

And now she has “Vyshka.” Who is invited to the old channel and the new project?

Here comes Spivak. He is a figure in the “Detector Media” project “Shame Board,” dedicated to media propagandists, and the “Database of Pseudosociologists and Rating Sellers” from Texty.org.

This former Odessa City Council deputy was a host on channels associated with Viktor Medvedchuk (ZIK, 112, NewsOne). In 2022, Spivak lamented about “American biolabs” in our country and called for neutrality because “there will be no war with Russia.” After the invasion, Spivak claimed that Putin was provoked into “this insane move” and he simply “fell for it.” To end the war, one must “negotiate” with Russia, which for us means capitulation. And after the full-scale invasion, Spivak started typical “whitewashing.” He posts commendations and thanks. This whitewashing was also attempted by MP Oleksandr Dubinsky, who is finally being tried for treason. TSN.ua published stories without mentioning the journalist and cameraman (which is one of the signs of “jeans” – commissioned materials). In these stories, Dubinsky, along with a certain developer, supposedly heroically restored Kyiv region with their project “Media Defense.” It looked very much like preparation for a political project for Kyiv region.

What is Spivak doing in the new “Vyshka” project? The rhetoric remains unchanged. Moreover, he urged viewers to subscribe because they will be “repainted and re-recruited” on this channel.

The tandem of Lana and Spivak is not new. This was already noted during the media monitoring of the DM.

In addition to Spivak, “Vyshka” features Vadim Karasyov as a guest, who previously hosted “Chornyi Kvadrat” on “Nash.” “Detector Media” once wrote about how the “Nash” channel inherited speakers after the closure of “ZIK” and “112” channels. The same thing is happening now with “Vyshka.” And here’s what the host Lana says:

“I’m worried that at the end of this war… the active phase will still end… Right now we are making historical or even non-historical agreements (!) with our allies who may use our resources, our army, which has experience…”

And then the host talks about how other countries will use our army to continue fighting for their own interests, and we need to take that into account.

Karasyov responds to her: “Your concerns are justified.”

Karasyov spreads the narrative that Ukraine needs to at least retain the territories it has because, allegedly, there are no resources or desire among Western partners to liberate territories.

Lana Shevchuk also had Karasyov on air in the same program as Spivak.

The work is being done systematically, both then and now. In the new format with Lana Shevchuk, Karasyov talks about tens of thousands killed and wounded, adding that he wouldn’t want to fuel this topic, but in reality, hundreds of thousands have died. He didn’t want to, but he said it anyway… This is despite the fact that the head of the “Servant of the People” faction, David Arakhamia, emphasized that perhaps information about Ukraine’s losses should be disclosed and that the data on losses will definitely be less than 100,000, which is deliberately exaggerated by Russian propaganda.

And here are the narratives Karasyov fixed in previous broadcasts with Shevchuk: “they want to impose a ‘victory’ on us,” Karasyov continued. Instead, we need to “freeze the conflict” and “win the peace.”

The same thing is happening now on “Vyshka,” where there are over a million subscribers. And in shaping such a media landscape, it is necessary not just to consider but actively resist, especially in times of war.