Ukraine and NATO to work to deepen cooperation in strategic communications

On 18 March 2024, the inaugural meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council Strategic Communications Committee took place at NATO Headquarters in Brussels. The Ukrainian side was represented by Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, Taras Shevchenko, and Director of the Department of Communications and Public Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Viktoriia Lialina-Boiko.

Taras Shevchenko briefed the participants of the meeting on the work in the field of information security and measures to counter russian propaganda and disinformation. Particular attention was paid to the issue of communications with the population in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and mechanisms for the safe delivery of truthful and reliable information to fellow citizens under occupation.

NATO member states emphasised that the Alliance is particularly interested in learning from Ukraine's unique experience in conducting successful communications in times of war and views the newly established Committee as an effective tool for cooperation in this area.

The Allies also reaffirmed their readiness to support Ukraine, in particular in countering russian propaganda and disinformation, as well as in preserving the topic of supporting Ukraine in the focus of international attention.

In the framework of the meeting, Taras Shevchenko also met with the NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy Marie-Doha Besancenot.

In particular, the participants stressed that Ukraine is the number one target of russia's disinformation attacks and has considerable experience in countering it, so it is necessary to strengthen cooperation between Ukraine and NATO on countering disinformation.