A new jamming TV satellite broadcast system was successfully tested in Ukraine’s war-torn Donbas on Aug. 3, according to Oleksandr Turchynov, the head of the National Security and Defense Council.
The system was launched in the Ukrainian-controlled city of Pokrovsk (formerly known as Kransoarmeisk), 537 kilometers southeast of Kyiv. It would be the first one among many others the council plans to launch along the contact line in eastern Ukraine.
“This system allows to selectively block analogue, digital and satellite TV and radio signals that spread separatist and pro-Russian propaganda, while not interfering with the work of the Ukrainian television and radio broadcasting,” Turchynov said after he checked the system and added that everything works well. The funds for the system were allocated from the Cabinet of Minister’s reserve fund.
Ukraine has taken a number of steps to fight Russia’s propaganda.
In 2014, Ukraine blocked some 14 Russian television channels from its cable networks to stop them spreading war propaganda. Two years later, Ukraine’s National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting has added three more Russian channels to the list of those banned in the country.
The radio broadcasting has also improved.
In early 2016, the new station called Army FM – Ukraine’s official military radio – was launched to meet soldiers’ entertainment as well as information needs. It became possible with the help of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry and Spirit of America, a U.S.-based non-profit organization. Before the launch, only Russian radio stations had previously been available in the east.
Now the station can be heard in the FM band in many of the big eastern Ukrainian cities close to the front line, including Volnovakha, Slovyansk or Stanytsya Luhanska, Mariupol and others.
According to Ukrainian intelligence officers, Russia’s main propaganda TV channels prepared “high-profile documentaries” in the Donbas in order to slander Ukraine’s army, the press service of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Defense Ministry reported in early 2017.
They said Russia has “intensified” its measures by preparing provocative news reports and documentaries aimed at damaging the reputation of Ukrainian fighters and accuse them of violating the Minsk peace plan.
According to their data, Russian military commanders used film crews of the leading Russian TV Channels, including Russia-1, NTV and REN TV. They filmed high-profile propaganda in Donetsk and Mariupol using specially trained instigators from local communities.
In May, President Petro Poroshenko also signed a decree that aims to block access to the country’s most popular social networking sites and other Russian-based web businesses, including Yandex, a Russian equivalent of Google, and social media websites Vkontakte and Odnoklassniki,
The move was seen as part of new sanctions against Russia for the annexation of Crimea and war in east Ukraine that has claimed lives of more than 10,000 people.
