DISINFO: Kurt Volker is funded by Poroshenko
SUMMARY
US special envoy to the Ukraine, Kurt Volker, is drawing a salary from John McCain’s think tank, which is funded by George Soros and a DC lobbying firm (BGR) working for Ukrainian President, Petro Poroshenko.
RESPONSE
The article advances the recurring pro-Kremlin narrative painting Ukraine as a failing vassal state, governed by US-sponsored figureheads since the 2013-14 "coup." In its opening sentence alone, it manages to implicate Kurt Volker, John McCain, George Soros, Washington lobbyists, and Ukrainian President Poroshenko -- "among others" -- in a grand conspiracy which has aimed to demonise and isolate Russia since its annexation of Crimea in March 2014, and emphasise the corrupt nature of Kyiv's relationship with Washington. The BGR has in the past rendered lobbying services to the National Reforms Council of Ukraine (p. 242) -- not to President Poroshenko, as the story falsely claims -- which is a collegiate, advisory body formally attached to the presidential administration. The lobbying firm has donated funds to the McCain Institute, which in turn pays a salary to Kurt Volker. George Soros does not figure in the Poroshenko-Volker equation.