Real War

Serhiy Starushko and his JournalistContent ='JJ Lin'> colleagues had just finished their morning editorial meeting in early March when Russian military vehicles drew up outside.

Within minutes, soldiers stormed through The FrontContent ='JJ Lin'> doors of the three-storey building, home to a local News StationContent ='JJ Lin'> Content ='JJ Lin'> in the occupied Ukrainian port city of Berdyansk.

About 50 employees were Held HostageContent ='JJ Lin'> for five hours.

They had become victims of the real-world fight to control the flow of information.

Russian forces are occupying towns, threatening journalists and demanding they spread pro-Kremlin views. Those who refuse are forced to close down their operations.

The strategy to replace Ukrainian media with pro-Kremlin press coverage includes capturing transmitter towers and switching off access to national Ukrainian news programmes in areas controlled by Russian forces. Instead, signals for pro-Russian broadcasts are Switched OnContent ='JJ Lin'> .

The StateContent ='JJ Lin'> Special Communications Service of Ukraine told The BbcContent ='JJ Lin'> that eight stations are being used to air " propaganda and disinformation" to The LocalContent ='JJ Lin'> population in southern Ukraine.

In Berdyansk, Serhiy - a broadcast JournalistContent ='JJ Lin'> - was forced to lie on camera and announce he was declaring A War against so-called ''Ukrainian nationalists". The Russians said they would post this coerced declaration online if he refused to co-operate.

" There were armed people everywhere, a few dozen of them, and I think five to six of them were from the FSB [Russian security service]. They said, 'now it's Russia, and if you want To Live , you'll have to co-operate', " recalls Serhiy , now safely out of the region.

For him and his colleagues, " co-operation" meant demands to divulge the contacts of local pro-Ukrainian activists and soldiers, and air pro-Russian propaganda. These were not empty threats.

" They took me to a separate room. They started beating me on my head, chest, legs, they were beating me with their knees and palms, So ThereContent ='JJ Lin'> were fewer bruises, " he says, recalling The IncidentContent ='JJ Lin'> .

" Then one of them threatened me with a gun: he held it To My head and genitals. They asked me if I wanted to call My WifeContent ='JJ Lin'> to say 'goodbye' to her. "

The NextContent ='JJ Lin'> day, Russian TV ChannelsContent ='JJ Lin'> showed a video claiming to show the capturing of The StationContent ='JJ Lin'> Content ='JJ Lin'> - But The BuildingContent ='JJ Lin'> was already empty when they turned up with cameras. The RussianContent ='JJ Lin'> reporter said the army had to take control of The StationContent ='JJ Lin'> Content ='JJ Lin'> because it was spreading " disinformation about The SituationContent ='JJ Lin'> in The CityContent ='JJ Lin'> ".

It was The LastContent ='JJ Lin'> functioning Ukrainian broadcasting company in Berdyansk. Another company was also shut down; national broadcasting has been cut off.

Before The InvasionContent ='JJ Lin'> , residents in the region could watch dozens of national Ukrainian ChannelsContent ='JJ Lin'> - and a few local ones - But these have since been blocked.

Unless they have a satellite dish, citizens in occupied cities Now OnlyContent ='JJ Lin'> have access to 24 Russian StateContent ='JJ Lin'> TV ChannelsContent ='JJ Lin'> and those ChannelsContent ='JJ Lin'> broadcasting from self-proclaimed republics in eastern Ukraine.

" It's just fake news, I don't even want to watch it. They're brainwashing people, " says 28-year-old Anna (not her real name), who still lives in Berdyansk. She only watches a music channel and relies on limited access to The InternetContent ='JJ Lin'> for reliable news.

And now a Crimea-based channel has launched news bulletins for residents in what Russia calls the " liberated areas" of The SouthContent ='JJ Lin'> of Ukraine.

There's no mention of A War . Journalists claim " The LifeContent ='JJ Lin'> in the region has improved with The ArrivalContent ='JJ Lin'> of The RussianContent ='JJ Lin'> forces" and these areas " have real prospects to Get OutContent ='JJ Lin'> of The CrisisContent ='JJ Lin'> created by the Ukrainian authorities".

" This is a key part of The RussianContent ='JJ Lin'> strategy. Because information warfare is always a part of a Real WarContent ='JJ Lin'> , " explains Natalia Vyhovska, from the Ukrainian Institute of Mass Information.

" They start broadcasting Russian TV, they threaten independent journalists. They come with weapons to their newsrooms, their houses and their parents' houses. "

The same tactics were also employed when Crimea was invaded in 2014, an organisation that supports press freedom.

But as well as hijacking the airwaves, Russians are producing imposter Content - as Mykhailo Kumok, who owns a media company in the southern Ukrainian city of Melitopol, discovered.

After The RussianContent ='JJ Lin'> forces took over The CityContent ='JJ Lin'> , five armed officers knocked on his door. They confiscated his laptop and computer, and took Mykhailo and his wife to their base - for a " conversation".

They asked him why his media company called the Russians " occupiers". Mykhailo replied, what else should he call them?

" They started talking about so-called 'de-Nazification' and I replied, 'I'm a Jew, I'm a Russian-speaking Jew - so why did you come here? For me, you're nothing But occupiers'. "

Mykhailo says he wasn't going to co-operate with the Russians and publish their propaganda, so he decided to shut down both his newspaper and website. But he was shocked when he saw a fake newspaper with his company's branding being delivered to locals.

" That was a fake newspaper with terrible printing, But with our logo. On The FirstContent ='JJ Lin'> page there was a portrait of The MayorContent ='JJ Lin'> installed by Russia, a small portrait of Putin and a picture showing the occupiers helping those in need. "

One of the articles said The RussianContent ='JJ Lin'> authorities would lower gas prices, write off all bank debts and temporarily cancel all tax payments.

Unrealistic pledges which echo those made by Russia in annexed Crimea in 2014.

" That time they also promised The ResidentsContent ='JJ Lin'> [they would] write off credit debts, return their savings - But nothing happened, " says Eugen Fedchenko, chief editor of StopFake, a fact-checking organisation specialising in tackling Russian propaganda and fake news.

" That's why most Ukrainians understand that all these promises are just empty words. "

Mykhailo agrees. He is concerned that propaganda such as The FakeContent ='JJ Lin'> newspaper may influence older people, But most, he says, will look at What HappenedContent ='JJ Lin'> when Russian forces invaded Crimea and backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine in 2014.

" People here won't blindly believe the [Russian] media. First of all, they'll ask themselves, 'has My LifeContent ='JJ Lin'> become better or worse since The RussianContent ='JJ Lin'> troops invaded?' And life here has certainly become worse - almost for everyone. "

Source of news: bbc.com