"Destroying the Ukrainian past". What does the media under occupation broadcast and who controls it?

Who controls the media in the occupied territories of southern Ukraine? Did the content disseminated by these media change during the occupation period? Which anti-Ukrainian narratives are broadcast the most now? Is Russian propaganda in the occupied territories effective and does it achieve its goals? All this was learned by the Radio Liberty project "News of the Azov Region".
On April 21, the international organization "Reporters Without Borders" published an investigation entitled "Malkevich's propaganda - Wagner's partner network in Ukraine." It states that the Russian journalist, general director of the TV channel "St. Petersburg" Alexander Malkevich, who is a close associate of the owner of the private army of the Wagner Group Yevgeny Prigozhin, took control of television and radio broadcasting in the occupied territories of southern Ukraine from July 2022.
According to journalists, the projects of local TV channels, which were developed by the occupation administrations after the Russian invasion of Ukraine at the end of February, were suddenly canceled in favor of a new system, which was concentrated around three media. Specifically, in Melitopol, Malkevich founded the "ZaMedia" group, which consists of a TV channel, a radio station and several local newsrooms. In Kherson, which was then occupied, he launched the TV channel "Tavria TV". In Mariupol, Malkevich used the resources of the TV channel "St. Petersburg" which he managed to support his media called "Mariupol 24".

Journalists note that the task of these new media is to force the local population to accept the Kremlin's vision of the world and the integration of the occupied territories into Russia, which, according to Malkevich, is "a very important challenge."
The author of the investigation, a journalist from the organization "Reporters without Borders", on April 21, on the TV channel "Espresso", noted that the creation of propaganda media in the occupied territories is part of Russia's crime against Ukraine. The investigation also established that the propaganda system created by Malkevich in the occupied territories of southern Ukraine was part of Prigozhin's strategy aimed at strengthening his media influence in Russia. The second direction of this propaganda, according to journalists, aims to destroy the Ukrainian past.

Until last fall, Malkevich denied his involvement in the private military company Wagner Group and even sued journalists who uncovered the connection.
According to Reporters Without Borders, Malkevich is under US sanctions because of his ties to Prigozhin and has significant resources at his disposal.

What do the occupation media say?

Serhij Danilov, deputy director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, noted that television in the occupied territories looks rather "weak". However, a lot of attention is paid to the work of the Telegram channel.
"Now there is not so much talk about famous ancestors, about May 9, about fascism, about the victory in the Second World War. A large part covers coverage of youth policy. These can be competitions, trips to other regions of Russia - Anapa, Krasnodar, Moscow or Crimea. "Participation in some events, formation of youth paramilitary organizations or attachment to certain Russian political forces," said Danilov.
A representative of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies claims that media workers receive substantial funding for such work.
"In general, the policy regarding Kherson and Zaporozhye regions is to pour money into them. Everyone who cooperated, especially journalists and people who run Telegram channels, are paid more than in Crimea and in the regions of Russia," said the expert.

Danilov added that the signal of the pro-Russian TV channel "Tavrija" was available in the liberated part of the Kherson region until recently. However, due to hostilities, the operation of the transmitter is now unstable.
Given the hostilities and the Russian occupation of parts of the southern territories of Ukraine, the editorial office cannot obtain official confirmation of some of the statements made or independently verify them.

"They flooded the south with newspapers"

Natalija Vihovska, representative of the Institute for Mass Information (IMI) in the Zaporizhia region, said in a comment for "Novosti iz Azov" that, in addition to the Telegram channel, printed mass media are also developing in the occupied part of Ukraine.
"The Soviet approach is to flood the territory with newspapers. It is now being implemented very actively. For example, "Komsomolska Pravda" has a special edition "Zaporozhye" (in Russian). In Crimea, they make more than 500,000 to 600,000 copies. And they come out every week. The newspaper "Zaporožski vestnik" (in Russian) is also published, with a circulation of 50,000 copies," says Vihovska.

According to her, a special source of anti-Ukrainian narratives are the telegram channels of representatives of the occupation authorities, which publish thoughtful posts and decisions of the authorities of the Russian Federation.
"There are some Telegram channels like that of Volodymyr Rogov (representative of the occupation authorities of the occupied part of the Zaporozhye region - author's note), which has more than 100,000 subscribers. "He constantly conducts purely anti-Ukrainian activities, openly plays videos from places that have been shelled, constantly calls everyone there Nazis, drug addicts," Vigovska noted.

"Too much Putin"

The newspapers distributed by the Russian occupying forces in the region do not mention the war at all, Vihovska noted.
"There is a lot of Putin and everything else about the wonderful actions of the Russian occupiers, who simply help the "new" territories to live. That is, absolute separation from reality," says the representative of IMI.
Also, the documentary films shown during the occupation are saturated with pro-Russian narratives, the journalist added.
"I recently analyzed a film with Ivan Oklobistin, it was released eight months ago, it was called "Russia Speaks". region of Zaporozhye". This is the peak of distortion, manipulation, falsification. In them, a documentary film is also put to the service of propaganda. Unfortunately, I think that all of this affects the people who live there," Vihovska said.

"In the footsteps of fascists"

Leonid Vlasyuk, a Russian political scientist who lives in Israel and a former analyst of the United Russia party, noted in a commentary for "Novosti iz Priazovia" that the mass media in the occupied territories is one of the main tools for maintaining control over those territories.
"That's what the fascists did when they formed their radio stations, printed newspapers, leaflets and everything else that was distributed among the population. Film cameras traveled there to show films, one for the prisoners and one for Germany, for internal consumption. So it's a very natural story, it would be strange if it didn't happen. The only thing that is very strange is why the presidential administration did not deal with it, but delegated all these stories to Prigogine," noted the political scientist.

Prigozhin entrusted the organization of media work in the occupied territories to Malkevich, because he considers him a professional, the expert noted.
"He found an unprincipled person with a high level of intelligence, charismatic and capable of organizing this business. He hired him for a fairly large sum of money, providing the maximum number of opportunities and delegating the maximum number of powers in this area," said Vlasjuk.

"Russian propaganda fails"

The fact that the media in the occupied south of Ukraine is under the control of the head of the Wagner Group, and not the deputy head of the administration of the President of Russia, Serhiy Kiriyenko, shows the inconsistency in the management of the occupied territories.
"Serhiy Kiriyenko should have been involved in this, it is his area of responsibility, he is quite talented, but apparently the management is broken. The country gradually comes to destruction, disintegration, because there is no longer any tactical and strategic management. Consequently, there are no strategic or tactical plans," emphasized Vlasjuk.
He believes that Russian propaganda does not achieve its goal and is not effective. According to the expert, the Ukrainian information field works much better.
"Ukraine is not giving up, Ukraine is becoming more united every day, more efficient in its actions. And this indicates that Russian propaganda is not achieving its goals. Hence Prigozhin's fits of rage, the capture of Russians and uneducated mobs. When a country is falling apart, as it is now, there is degradation at all levels. It's bad everywhere," emphasized Vlasjuk.
In September 2022, Russian authorities announced the annexation of four Ukrainian regions, including Zaporozhye. Ukraine and the West condemned this annexation attempt.
Ukraine and the West have condemned such illegal actions by the Kremlin. Kiev, Washington, as well as Britain and Canada announced new sanctions against the Russian Federation.
Ukraine declares that it will fight with armed means to return the occupied territories under its control.