He wants to meet, and we are setting it up, Trump said at a meeting with Republican governors at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

President Putin wants to meet. He has said that even publicly and we have to get that war over with. That’s a bloody mess.

Our goal is to secure guarantees and bring an end to the war this year. We will do everything in our power to make this happen, Zelensky said in an interview with Italian television news channel Rai News 24, reports one domestic media outlet.

However, just a few days earlier, a news report posted by MIA about Zelensky’s popularity revealed that, through various editorial interventions—particularly in the headline—Macedonian-language media outlets appeared to present a different perspective on the Ukrainian leader.

While MIA’s news report was posted with the headline: “Zelensky’s popularity has decreased significantly in 2024, according to research,” two other media outlets published a similar headline: “ZELENSKY’S POPULARITY DECLINING Up to 39% of Ukrainians do not trust the president” or “POLL: Zelensky’s popularity is declining, up to 39% of Ukrainians do not trust the president.” These media outlets tried to be more careful with the headline and to locate the source of the news, i.e. the poll of the Institute from Kyiv.

One media outlet published the same news with the headline: “Ukrainians’ trust in President Zelensky is decreasing,” while another media outlet highlighted the citizens, using the headline: “Ukrainians trust Zelensky less and less.”

If we analyze most of the news reports, we can also see differences in the editorial interventions—some media outlets emphasized that it was a telephone poll, a fact that the main source of the news report (MIA) stated immediately at the beginning, while other media outlets abandoned that part, even though when it comes to publishing polls, every detail is important in terms of professional reporting or making the news. This is important given the Kremlin’s continuous dissemination of propaganda messages targeting Zelensky constantly, either in terms of his legitimacy, or in terms of fake news about his corruption.

Lavrov’s messages on Ukraine reported differently across media outlets

In the middle of the month, many media outlets reported a statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Russia was ready to study the peace initiatives of the newly elected US President Donald Trump on the war in Ukraine. The story is also sourced from MIA and reported correctly by some domestic media outlets:

Lavrov warned that Trump had previously announced that the war would be stopped within 24 hours of his return to the White House, before his inauguration, but added that Russia welcomed the fact that Trump’s team had started talking about the “reality on the ground” when it comes to Ukraine.

The Russian foreign minister said this was reflected in Trump’s statements, as well as in the comments of his future national security adviser, Mike Volz.

 

However, another media outlet, without citing the source, added to the story with Lavrov’s words about Ukraine’s sovereignty, focusing on “what is now called Ukraine.”

We are ready to discuss security guarantees for the country now called Ukraine and for parts of that country that have not yet determined their status, unlike Crimea, Donbass and Novorossiya (the occupied self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics in eastern Ukraine), Lavrov said during the briefing, the media outlet reported.

On the other hand, one media outlet emphasized Lavrov’s words that “Trump admitted that NATO lied to Russia about the enlargement.”

According to Lavrov, a non-proliferation agreement was reached in 2010 between the presidents, stipulating that no OSCE country or organization would claim dominance or strengthen its security at the expense of others.

Trump said this as well. For the first time, not only from an American leader, but also from any Western leader, there was an honest confession that NATO members lied when they signed numerous documents, concluded the Russian minister, the local media outlet reports.

Lavrov was once again widely reported by domestic media outlets with his assessment that presidents Trump and Putin have shown readiness for contacts and cooperation. His other assessment regarding Trump’s statements about tariff threats, including the BRICS countries, showed that:

Washington’s policy on the world stage does not change depending on who is in the White House: Democrats or Republicans. This interest is always to be stronger than any competitor, Lavrov stressed, local media outlets reported.

Trump’s threats of sanctions against Russia

A large part of Macedonian online media outlets at the end of the month reported Trump’s statement about the possibility of imposing new sanctions on Russia if Putin refuses to sit at the negotiating table.The news came shortly after Trump’s inauguration and the Russia-China summit, which had drawn the attention of Macedonian-language media outlets to the online meeting between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping.

This threat by Trump provoked a cautious reaction from official Moscow, first through its representative to the United Nations, Deputy Ambassador Dmitry Polyansky, who asked for clarification from Trump on the terms of the Ukraine deal.

So we have to see what does the ‘deal’ mean in President Trump’s understanding. It’s not merely the question of ending the war,” Polyansky said. It’s first and foremost the question of addressing root causes of Ukrainian crisis, Polyansky said, according to some media reports.

After this Russia was quick to clarify that any ideas of freezing the conflict are unacceptable for Moscow.

“We advocate a final, fair and sustainable solution that addresses the root causes of the crisis. The temporary ceasefire and the freezing of the conflict are unacceptable,” says the statement published on the website of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reports Izvestia, one domestic media outlet published.

The same message was later delivered by Russian intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin, and the news was also published by MIA.

We can negotiate with anyone, but Vladimir Zelensky, because he is an illegitimate president, he cannot sign anything, he added (Putin, Editor’s Note).

 

In 2022, Zelensky, whose presidential term officially ended in May 2024, issued a decree banning negotiations with Russia, and specifically with President Vladimir Putin, a measure that remains in effect.

Last week, Zelensky claimed that the ban applies to all Ukrainian officials except for himself, although the initial decree did not specify a list of entities prohibited from negotiating with Russia, stating only that such negotiations are “impossible”.

If we start negotiations now, they will be illegitimate… because when the current head of the regime… signed this decree, he was in some ways the legitimate president. But now he can’t cancel it because he is illegitimate. It’s a trick, an ambush, a trap, Putin explained, reports one of the local media outlets.

The inevitable Medvedev in Russian propaganda

To amplify the message to Zelensky, Putin’s statement was followed by a call from one of Moscow’s biggest propagandists, Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, which was widely reported by domestic media.

It is extremely dangerous for the head of the Ukrainian regime, Volodymyr Zelensky, to be re-elected to that position because he will continue to lie, delay negotiations and send 18-year-olds to war, said Russia’s Deputy Chairman of the Security Council and former President Dmitry Medvedev….

Zelensky could try to be re-elected, but that would be extremely dangerous: either he would lose to a certain Valerii Zaluzhnyi or his weak fighting figure would simply be removed from the chessboard of Anglo-Saxon grandmasters, Medvedev stressed, one media outlet reports.

Some media outlets at the end of the month also published an alleged peace plan according to which Putin and Zelensky would end the war by Easter, which this year falls on April 20.

At the same time, Ukraine must withdraw troops from the Kursk region, and then an international peace conference should be held by the end of April to formalize the Russia-Ukraine agreement with the mediation of the United States, China, European countries, and countries of the Global South. After that, Ukraine and Russia will exchange prisoners on the principle of “everyone for everyone,” reports another media outlet.

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As can be seen from the overview and brief analysis of part of the Macedonian-language media scene, direct Russian propaganda messages are transmitted mostly through different treatment of the same news, whether from domestic or world agencies, and then by sourcing news about the same event from Serbian or Russian media outlets, but without specifying the source of the news. At the same time, it is also quite clear that editorial interventions especially in the headlines or subheadings of the news, although perhaps made out of the desire for more views, often leave the impression of taking the side of the Russian aggression and military actions in Ukraine during reporting