President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wants to see an uncompromising fight against disinformation. Photo: president.gov.ua
Yesterday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a decree appointing Polina Lysenko as head of the Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD). The Center was established by the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) in mid-March.
This week, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy's long-announced Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security (TsSKIB) was officially unveiled. It will also focus on combating disinformation.
Why are there two structures for one area at once and what can the Center for Preventive Medicine and the Central Scientific and Technical Bureau of the Ministry of Culture actually do? "A country".
Embassy-vetted personnel
Let's start with the Center for Countering Disinformation. Its creation was announced on March 11 at an event at the "Ukraine 30" forum by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the head of his Office, Andriy Yermak. On the same day, the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) established this structure, which will be located in the Situation Center of the Security Council's apparatus in the Presidential Office.
According to National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksiy Danilov, the Center's work will be modeled on the National Coordination Center for Cybersecurity and the Presidential Intelligence Committee. The Center will involve employees from various ministries and agencies, and even intelligence officers.
Danilov asserts that the Centralized Control Center will not be closed to the public, while the head of the OP, Yermak, asserts that the structure will not become “political.”
"Today, we urgently need this Center to quickly become a powerful tool in the fight against disinformation. I think we'll see the first results of its work very soon," Yermak said.
On April 2, it was announced that President Zelenskyy had appointed Polina Lysenko as head of the Center for Political Affairs. She is better known to the public by her married name, Chizh.
For several years, Polina Lysenko (Chizh) was listed as an assistant to the First Deputy Director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, Gizo Uglava. According to Serhiy Leshchenko, a member of parliament of the eighth convocation, Lysenko (Chizh) was responsible for contacts with the US Embassy. Member of Parliament Andriy Derkach (non-affiliated) claimed that Lysenko (Chizh) was responsible for the flow of criminal case materials to the US Embassy, forwarding them on orders from NABU leadership (Strana published this correspondence a year ago).
Derkach also stated that, following his request, the SAP opened a criminal case for leaking information to a foreign embassy. However, nothing has been heard about the investigation since then.
Additionally, Lysenko (Chizh) headed the international department of the Prosecutor General's Office under Ruslan Ryaboshapka, and led the project on developing the judicial branch and international cooperation in Mikheil Saakashvili's Office of Simple Solutions. According to her application, she most recently served as Director of the Information Policy and Public Relations Department at Ukrzaliznytsia.
Her appointment makes it clear who will take charge of the CPD.
"The Center's director is someone oriented toward Western partners, primarily the United States. One of its tasks is to secure foreign funding for this structure, among other things. There were discussions with the Americans and the British on this matter. And, apparently, the center will be strongly influenced by them and operate within a Western, even American, framework," commented political scientist Ruslan Bortnik.
Polina Lysenko herself outlined the following front of work for the Center: “countering threats to national security and Ukraine’s national interests in the information sphere, combating propaganda, destructive disinformation influences and campaigns, and preventing the manipulation of public opinion.”
"It's like a knife. It can be used as a cutlery, or it can be used in a fight. The stated goals for the Center are noble, but there may be a desire to simultaneously, or initially, take control of the country's information space. And given the Western influence on the Center, it could potentially become akin to NABU, that is, another instrument of external control and monitoring. I wouldn't be surprised if the mere appearance of such a Center triggers a bout of self-censorship among some journalists," political expert Andriy Zolotarev commented to Strana.
Poroshenko's old training manual
Now about the Center under the Ministry of Culture. At the presentation of the Center on March 31, Minister of Culture Alexander Tkachenko called the Center "a state mechanism for countering disinformation that will protect the information space from distortions and falsehoods."
According to him, such work is among the priorities for the ministry and even the government.
At the same time, the Central Scientific and Technical Bureau of the Russian Federation (TSKB) is allegedly ready to cooperate with the Central Scientific and Technical Bureau.
So what's the difference? According to Minister Tkachenko, the Center under the Ministry of Culture will involve civil society organizations in its work. Together with the government, they will allegedly combat disinformation, "respond quickly to fakes," and "promote Ukrainian narratives."
According to Tkachenko, the Central Data Center will retain “the security function and the prospect of an international hub.”
Lyubov Tsybulskaya heads the TsSKIB. The former television journalist served as strategic communications advisor to the Chief of the General Staff and head of the press service for Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration. Before her appointment at the TsSKIB, Tsybulskaya headed the hybrid threat analysis group at the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center, which focuses entirely on Russia, and served as an advisor on countering information threats to Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
Her interests remain the same in her new position. "We want to create a powerful center with powerful expertise. The last seven years of fighting Russia have confirmed that we have this expertise, as have a number of initiatives at both the state and civil society levels. I urge us all to unite, because we share a common goal and are in this battle against the aggressor together," she emphasized at a joint presentation with Tkachenko at the Center for Social and Cultural Development.
But neither Tkachenko nor Tsybulskaya specified which public organizations were meant (at least, there was not a word about this in the official statement from the Ministry of Culture).
However, last November, the publication "European Pravda" published a noteworthy article by Tsybulskaya. In it, she discusses the then-simple idea of the Presidential Administration for a center to combat disinformation and laments that Zelenskyy's team is unwilling to attract "specialists"—those who have "consistently worked for Ukraine's interests in recent years, clearly articulating their position and openly declaring their sources of funding."
What is meant, apparently, are grant organizations, some of which Tsybulskaya mentions and praises in the article, for example, StopFake, Detector Media, and Internews Ukraine.
However, the organization StopFake, which Facebook tasked with fact-checking the Ukrainian segment of the social network, is known for whitewashing the reputation of the far-right in Ukraine.
In turn, Detector Media, during Poroshenko's time, provided informational support for the authorities' attacks against opposition journalists.
"These organizations have repeatedly served as political tools in the government's fight against opponents. If they are brought in, it will be a clear signal that old methods are being returned," political scientist Bortnik commented to Strana.
He believes that both centers should receive “clear standards for analyzing information, substantiating conclusions, and using this information in a legal manner; they can be staffed by people with different ideologies but a common faith in Ukraine.”
"Otherwise, the real goals for both centers will be to discredit their opponents, label them, and then subject them to sanctions from the National Security and Defense Council or the National Council. It's pure political warfare under the guise of countering disinformation and foreign influence," Bortnik says.
Analogies with Europe are inappropriate
In establishing the center, the Ukrainian authorities cited international experience, specifically the work of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, established in 2016. The European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, whose experience Zelenskyy cites, functions as an expert institution. It publishes strategic recommendations, but, of course, does not monitor the content of individual media outlets. And it certainly does not advise the authorities on who is "faking" and who is not.
However, in reality this analogy does not work.
The leadership of the European Centre is elected by the members of the Governing Board, not appointed by decree of Zelenskyy, as is the case in Ukraine. The European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats acts as an expert institution. It publishes strategic recommendations but does not monitor the content of individual media outlets. And it certainly does not advise the authorities on who is "faking" and who is not.
In the case of Ukraine, we are talking about the creation of a body that is completely controlled by the authorities.
"The main focus is on creating an administrative oversight body. It can be assumed that the new body will become a tool for discrediting and pressuring media outlets and opinion leaders whose activities are deemed undesirable by the authorities. This structure will most likely coordinate information gathering and the work of law enforcement agencies in the information sphere. In the most severe scenario, it will be empowered to assign tasks to other agencies in combating 'disinformation' and 'disinformers,' and recommend measures against them," a source in expert circles familiar with the discussions surrounding the creation of the Center under the National Security and Defense Council told Strana.
The controversial "On Media" bill may be considered at the end of September.
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