Russian propaganda is short of staff: Putin is looking for ‘journalists’ for Ukraine

As Russia tries to take more and more territory in its war of aggression in Ukraine, the Kremlin is said to be building its own local media.

However, Moscow would have difficulty spreading state propaganda in this way. The American think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports that Russia apparently does not have the right personnel in the occupied territories.

According to the ISW, the so-called All-Russian State Television and Radio Company is trying to set up regional offices in the occupied territories of Ukraine. Corresponding propaganda channels could not start their work due to lack of personnel.

“Pseudo-journalists” are guilty of collaboration

The ISW relies on information from the Ukrainian Resistance Center, which is subordinate to the Ukrainian armed forces. According to the state resistance center, Russian occupation officials also want to set up Kremlin-funded training offices to recruit young “pseudojournalists” who will in turn staff the departments.

The resistance center reports that the lack of personnel seems to be a problem in southern Ukraine in particular, especially in the regions of Zaporizhia and Kherson. Such a recruitment center already exists in Melitopol.

If Ukrainian journalists work for the Russian occupiers, they are punishable, according to the resistance center. It is about collaboration, which will be punished according to the criminal law of Ukraine.

According to current estimates, Russia illegally occupies about 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, including the annexed territories of Zaporizhia, Donetsk, Kherson and Luhansk.

Sources

(t-online/dsc)