INFORMATION PUBLICITY OF “ANATOLIY TYMOSCHUK’ S CASE” IN THE CONDITIONS OF RUSSIA’S WAR AGAINST UKRAINE (2014–2022)

Abstract

Anatoliy Tymoshchuk is one of the most titled and richest football players in the history of independent Ukraine. In Ukraine, in particular, the footballer's home- town – Lutsk, he was repeatedly criticized for the fact that in the context of Rus- sia's armed aggression against Ukraine, which has lasted since 2014, he continued to play and work in the leading Russian club “Zenit”. In response, in his inter- views A. Tymoshchuk tried to separate football and politics, avoiding comment- ing on events in Ukraine. Since the beginning of the full-scale military invasion of Russia into Ukraine in 2022, the footballer has remained cynically silent for a long time, not disclosing his civil position. This caused information publicity of the “case of A. Tymoshchuk” at the regional (Lutsk and Volyn regions), Ukrai- nian and international levels. On the basis of local information publications, the author traced the peculiarities of A. Tymoshchuk’s gaining popularity in the re- gion, conferring the title of “Honorary Citizen of Lutsk” and public discussions of attempts to deprive him of this title. In Ukraine the information publicity of “A. Tymoshchuk’s case” contained statements of football players and journalists about the formation of pro-Russian views of the athlete. The international infor- mation level covered the statements of former teammates, coaches, management of clubs in European countries, where A. Tymoshchuk had played, about his behavior during the 2022 war. The author claims that the «case of A. Tymoshchuk» in 2017–2022 continued the trend of politicization of domestic sports, its de- Russification. It has significantly increased international publicity about Russia’s armed invasion of Ukraine in the «football» countries of the world. This contrib- uted to the establishment of a high positive international image of Ukraine.