An American citizen has been detained by Ukrainian authorities after expressing support for Russian actions and criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Gonzalo Lira, a prominent YouTuber and columnist, has gained recognition for his financial articles featured in renowned platforms such as Business Insider and ZeroHedge. Lira has notably emerged as a vocal critic of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to an official press release, Gonzalo Lira was detained by the Ukrainian Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in early May for publicly justifying the Russian invasion.
“The security service gathered an evidence base on a foreign blogger who publicly justified the armed aggression of the RF [Russian Federation] and spread fakes about the war in Ukraine,” the Ukrainian SBU stated. “The figure is a citizen of one of the Latin American countries, but has lived in Kharkiv for several years.”
“After the full-scale invasion, the blogger was one of the first to support Russian invaders and heroize their war crimes,” the release continued. “He also discredited the top military-political leadership and the Defense Forces of our state.”