Ukraine accuses Tulsi Gabbard and Rand Paul of promoting 'Russian propaganda'

Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation announced Monday that it had compiled a list of American citizens who have been "promoting Russian propaganda."

The center, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky created in 2021, named Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), journalist Glenn Greenwald, retired U.S. Army Colonel Douglas MacGregor, academic John Mearsheimer, and military historian Edward Luttwak.

Gabbard and Greenwald have endorsed the theory — which Russia promotes and Ukraine denies — that there are dozens of U.S.-funded biolabs in Ukraine. In the early days of the invasion, MacGregor told Fox News that Zelensky was a "puppet" and was "putting huge numbers of his own population at unnecessary risk" by refusing to cave to Russian President Vladimir Putin's demands.

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Mearsheimer delivered a lecture in 2015 with the title "Why is Ukraine the West's Fault?" in which he argued that NATO and the EU had driven Ukraine into conflict with Russia by teasing the possibility of membership without ever intending to grant it. Paul made similar statements and has voted against military aid for Ukraine. In April, Luttwak called for a peace deal that would allow disputed territories in the Donbas to hold referendums on whether to join with Russia or remain part of Ukraine.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson, a frequent critic of Zelensky's government, said Monday night that "Ukraine is not a democracy in any recognizable sense" and accused Zelensky of attempting to "impose censorship in our country."