Andrii Kononenko: Examining the situation in the temporarily occupied territories is one of the priorities of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine

This was emphasised by Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine Andrii Kononenko on Wednesday, 5 June, during the presentation of the results of the research "Media landscape in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine".

The research by the Centre for Information Resilience and Detector Media was conducted at the request of the NSDC Office with the support of the Partnership for a Ukraine Strong Foundation funded by the governments of Great Britain, Estonia, Canada, the Netherlands, the United States, Finland, Switzerland and Sweden.

The mapping and research of interconnections between the actors was conducted by analysing open data, including кussian and pro-кussian media and online resources in the TOT, focusing on Telegram channels.

Andrii Kononenko, Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, noted that analysts had done a titanic job of identifying individuals and organisations involved in russia's destructive information activities in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. In total, about 400 individuals and legal entities involved in russia's destructive information activities in the temporarily occupied territories of Crimea, Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions were identified.

"The outcomes of the research will be used in several ways. Firstly, the identified individuals and legal entities involved in the actions of the occupiers in the occupied territories of Ukraine will be further verified by law enforcement agencies. If they have not yet been subject to restrictive measures, they will be subject to sanctions or criminal prosecution. Secondly, it is important for us that all the information found, all the overt and covert connections become public and accessible to the public", - said Andrii Kononenko.

The Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine highlighted that everyone should understand that every collaborator, occupier or anyone who encroached on Ukraine's independence, territorial integrity and, most importantly, on the lives of Ukrainians will be held accountable.

During the presentation, the authors of the research presented a detailed analysis of media activities in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, as well as an interactive map of the propaganda distribution network in the occupied territories.

Pierre Vaux, an analyst at the Centre for Information Resilience, drew attention to the fact that Russian disinformation is spreading not only within Ukraine, including its TOT, and Russia, but also globally. He stressed that many news agencies and websites operating in the occupied territories are registered in Moscow.

For her part, Yuliia Chykolba, Country Director of Centre for Information Resilience, explained that the research "Media Landscape in the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine" was being conducted from January to March 2024. Its conclusions are based on open data, including russian and pro-russian media and online resources in the TOT, focusing on telegram channels.

The methodology involved the use of open source intelligence (OSINT) and a range of analytical tools, including collecting domain names from the Neo4j database, identifying 50 key domains using data provider Open Measures, and analysing inbound and referring domains using Ahrefs.

The quantitative analysis shows that pro-russian Telegram channels and media targeting the TOT are closely interconnected and function as a separate ecosystem, intertwined with other russian and pro-russian media and Telegram channels. The researchers were able to identify a network of pro-russian websites focused on the occupied territories of Ukraine - 232,825 interconnections between different web domains were found, as well as a network of telegram channels focused on the occupied territories of Ukraine.

The full version of the research "Media Landscape in the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine" can be downloaded at 

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