Left: French MEP Nathalie Loiseau Right: Journalist Vanessa Beeley. File photo.
By Max Blumenthal and Anya Parampil – Sep, 29, 2022
MEP Nathalie Loiseau of France is lobbying for individual sanctions on all observers of the Russian-organized referendums in the Donbass region. She has singled out journalist Vanessa Beeley not only for her coverage of the vote, but for her reporting on the foreign-back war against Syriaās government.
A French Member of European Parliament (MEP), Natalie Loiseau, has delivered a letter to EU High Representative of Foreign Affairs, Joseph Borrell, demanding the European Union place personal sanctions on all international observers of the recent votes in the Donetsk and Lugansk Peopleās Republics and certain Russian-controlled territories in eastern Ukraine.
Obtained by The Grayzone from an EU source, the letter is currently being circulated among European parliamentarians in hopes of securing a docket of supportive signatures.
āWe, as elected members of the European Parliament, demand that all those who voluntarily assisted in any way the organization of these illegitimate referendums be individually targeted and sanctioned,ā Loiseau declared.
The French MEPās letter came after a group of formally Ukrainian territories held a vote on whether or not to officially incorporate themselves into the Russian Federation in late September. Through the popular referendum, the independent Donetsk and Lugansk Peopleās Republics, which announced their respective successions from Ukraine in 2014 following a foreign-backed coup against the government Kiev, as well as the regions of Kherson and Zaporozhia, voted overwhelmingly in favor of joining the Russian Federation.
Loiseau singled out Vanessa Beeley, a British journalist who traveled to the region to monitor the vote. Extending her complaint well beyond the referendum, the French MEP accused Beeley of ācontinuously spreading fake news about Syria and acting as a mouthpiece for Vladimir Putin and Bashar el [sic] Assad for years.ā
Loiseau, a close ally of French President Emanuel Macron, specifically demanded Beeley be āincluded in the list of those sanctioned.ā
Beeley responded to Loiseauās letter in a statement to The Grayzone: āImposing sanctions on global citizens for bearing witness to a legal process that reflects the self-determination of the people of Donbass is fascism. Should the EU proceed with this campaign, I believe there will be serious consequences because the essence of freedom of speech and thought is under attack.
Russiaās referendums: drawing a line with NATO
In mid-September 2022, Beeley and around 100 other international delegates traveled to eastern Europe in order to observe a vote to join the Russian Federation in the regions of Kherson, Zaporozhia, and the independent republics of Lugansk and Donetsk.
Why did their presence trigger such an outraged response from Western governments? The answer lies in the recent history of these heavily contested areas.
Ukraine Condemns Venezuela, Brazil and Uruguay After Donbass Referendum
The formally Ukrainian territories of Kherson and Zaporozhia fell under Russian control earlier this year as a result of the military campaign launched by Moscow in February, while the Donetsk and Lugansk Peopleās Republics declared their independence from the government in Kiev in 2014.
Russia began its special military campaign in Ukrainian territory on February 24. The operation followed Moscowās decision that same week to formally recognize the independence of the Donetsk Peopleās Republic and Lugansk Peopleās Republic (the Donbass Republics) in Ukraineās eastern Donbass region. Pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass have been embroiled in a bloody trench battle with the US-backed government in Kiev since 2014.
Ukraineās civil conflict broke out in March 2014, after US and European forces sponsored a coup in the country that installed a decidedly pro-NATO nationalist regime in Kiev which proceeded to declare war on its minority, ethnically Russian population.
Following the 2014 putsch, Ukraineās governmentĀ officially marginalizedĀ the Russian language while extremist thugs backed by KievĀ massacredĀ and intimidated ethnic Russian citizens of Ukraine. In response, separatist protests swept Ukraineās majority-Russian eastern regions.
The territory of Crimea formally voted to join Russia in March of that year, while the Donetsk and Lugansk Republics in Ukraineās eastern Donbass region declared their unofficial independence from Kiev that same month. With support from the US military and NATO, Ukraineās coup government officially declared war on the Donbass in April 2014, launching what it characterized as an āAnti-Terrorist Operationā in the region.
Russia trained and equipped separatist militias in Donetsk and Lugansk throughout the territoriesā civil campaigns against Kiev, though Moscow did not officially recognize the independence of the Donbass republics until February 2022. By then, United Nations estimates placed the casualty count for Ukraineās civil war atĀ roughly 13,000 dead. While Moscow offered support to Donbass separatists throughout the 2014-2022 period, US and European governments invested billions to prop up a Ukrainian military that was heavily reliant on army and intelligence factions with direct links to the countryās historic anti-Soviet, pro-Nazi deep state born as a result of World War II.
Nothing to see here, just US embassy attachƩ Col. Brittany Stewart paying tribute to Ukrainian ultra-right neo-fascist Right Sector leader Vasily Slipak, and sporting a "Ukraine or Death" badge on her uniform https://t.co/7uuFfISNZl pic.twitter.com/Ym8CQQv1OD
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) April 13, 2021
Russiaās military formally entered the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, following Moscowās recognition of the Donbass republics. While Russian President Vladimir Putin defined the liberation of the Donbass republics as the primary objective of the military operation, he also listed the āde-nazificationā and āde-militarizationā of Ukraine as a goals of the campaign. As such, Russian troops have since secured control of Ukrainian territories beyond the Donbass region, including the territories of Kherson and Zaporozhia.
Facing increased Western investment in the Kiev-aligned bloc of Ukraineās civil war, authorities in the Donbass republics announced a referendum on membership in the Russian Federation in late September 2022, with Moscow-aligned officials in Kherson and Zaporozhia announcing similar ballot initiatives. Citizens in each territory proceeded to approve Russian membership by overwhelming majorities.
The results of the referendum not only threatened the government in Kiev, but its European and US backers. Western-aligned media leapt to characterize the votes as a sham,Ā claimingĀ Moscowās troops had coerced citizens into joining the Russian Federation at the barrel of a gun. Their narrative would have reigned supreme if not for the hundred or so international observers who physically traveled to the regions in question to observe the referendum process.
Observers like Vanessa Beeley now face the threat of returning home to the West as wanted outlaws. But as Loiseauās letter made clear, the British journalist was in the crosshairs long before the escalation in Ukraine.
Beeley among European journalists targeted and prosecuted for reporting from Donetsk
Vanessa BeeleyĀ was among the first independent journalists toĀ exposeĀ the US and UK governmentsā sponsorship of the Syrian White Helmets, a so-called āvolunteer organizationā that played frontline role in promoting the foreign-backed dirty war against Syriaās government through its coordination with Western and Gulf-sponsored media. Beeley also played an instrumental role inĀ revealingĀ the White Helmetsā strong ties to Al-Qaedaās Syrian branch, as well as its membersāĀ involvement in atrocitiesĀ committed by Western-backed insurgents.
Beeleyās work on Syria drew harsh attacks from an array of NATO and arms industry-funded think tanks. In June 2022, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), which receivesĀ fundingĀ from a variety of NATO states, corporations and billionaires,Ā labeled BeeleyĀ āthe most prolific spreader of disinformationā on Syria prior to 2020. (According to ISD, Beeley was somehow āovertakenā by The Grayzoneās Aaron Mate that year). The group did not provide a single piece of evidence to support its assertions.
Though Beeley has endured waves of smears, French MEP Natalie Loiseauās call for the EU to sanction the journalist represents the first time a Western official has moved to formally criminalize her work. Indeed, Loiseau made no secret that she is targeting Beeley not only for her role as an observer of the referendum votes, but also on the basis of her opinions and reporting on Syria.
Loiseauās push to issue personal sanctions against EU and US citizens comes on the heels of the German governmentāsĀ prosecutionĀ of independent journalist Alina Lipp. In March 2020, Berlin launched a formal case against Lipp, who is a German citizen, claiming her reporting from the Donetsk Peopleās Republic violated newly authorized state speech codes.
W/o explanation, @YouTube has demonetized my interview w/ Alina Lipp, the only German journalist in Donetsk
The German state has seized funds from Lipp's bank account and is prosecuting her under new speech laws for her reporting on Ukrainian war crimes https://t.co/No7OjRb8be pic.twitter.com/93BRKVq2FF
— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) July 17, 2022
Prior to Lippās prosecution, the Institute for Strategic DialogueĀ launched a media campaignĀ portraying her as a disseminator of ādisinformationā and āpro-Kremlin content.ā
In London, meanwhile, the UK government hasĀ imposed individual sanctionsĀ on Graham Philips, a British citizen and independent journalist, for his reporting from Donetsk.
And in Brussels, Loiseauās campaign against Beeley appears to have emerged from a deeply personal vendetta.
Who is Natalie Loiseau?
In April 2021, Beeley published aĀ detailed profileĀ of Loiseau at her personal blog, The Wall Will Fall, painting the French MEP as a regime change ideologue committed to ādefending global insecurity and perpetual war.ā Beeley noted that Loiseau served as a minister in the government of French President Emanuel Macron when it authorized airstrikes in response to dubious allegations of a Syrian government chemical attack in Douma in April 2018.
Beeley also reported that Loiseau has enjoyed a close relationship with the Syria Campaign, the public relations arm of the White Helmets operation. This same organization, which is backed by British-Syrian billionaire Ayman Asfari, was theĀ sponsorĀ of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue report which branded Beeley a ātop propagator of disinformationā on Syria.
Loiseau has taken her activism into the heart of the European parliament, using her position as chair of the European Parliamentās Subcommittee on Security and Defense to silence colleagues who ask to many questions about the Western campaign for regime change in Syria.
During an April 2021 hearing, MEP Mick Wallace attempted to question Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) Director General Fernando Arias about allegations he personally aided the censorship of an OPCW investigation which concluded no chemical attack took place in Douma, Syria in April 2018.
Loiseau immediately descended into a fit of rage, interrupting Wallace and preventing him from speaking.
āI cannot accept that you can call into question the work of an international organization, and that you would call into question the word of the victims in the way you have just done,ā Loiseau fulminated.
Wallace responded with indignation, asking, āIs there no freedom of speech being allowed in the European Parliament any more? Today you are denying me my opinion!ā
If you need any more proof that the @OPCW censored its Syria chemical weapons probe & covered it up, watch what unfolded at @Europarl_EN today.
OPCW chief Fernando Arias was asked critical questions, including whether he will meet the dissenting investigators. He didn't answer.
— Aaron MatĆ© (@aaronjmate) April 15, 2021
A year later, Wallace and fellow Irish MEP Clare DalyĀ sued the Irish network RTEĀ for defamation after it broadcast an interview with Loiseau during which she baselessly branded them as liars who spread disinformation about Syria in parliament.
Now, Loiseau appears to be seeking revenge against Beeley, demanding that she be criminally prosecuted not just for serving as a referendum observer, but for her journalistic output.
Max Blumenthal
Max Blumenthal is an award-winning journalist and the author of several books, including best-sellingĀ Republican Gomorrah,Ā Goliath,The Fifty One Day War, andĀ The Management of Savagery. He has produced print articles for an array of publications, many video reports, and several documentaries, includingĀ Killing Gaza. Blumenthal founded The Grayzone in 2015 to shine a journalistic light on Americaās state of perpetual war and its dangerous domestic repercussions.
Anya Parampil
Anya Parampil is a journalist based in Washington, DC. She previously hosted a daily progressive afternoon news program called In Question on RT America. She has produced and reported several documentaries, including on-the-ground reports from the Korean peninsula and Palestine.
