ISW: Russia plans to create a media conglomerate called "New Regions" in Ukraine's occupied territories

Russia plans to create a "New Regions" media conglomerate, which will work on media projects in occupied Ukraine with support from the Russian federal government, according to the December 31 report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

The ISW says that Russian Presidential Administration First Deputy Head Sergei Kiriyenko is "spearheading efforts to consolidate sociocultural control of occupied areas of Ukraine via the information space."

The Institute's analysts note that the creation of the media conglomerate was announced by the Zaporizhia oblast occupation governor Yevgeny Balitsky. He stated that he met with Kiriyenko on December 31 and discussed "the development of Russian-led cultural programs in occupied Zaporizhia Oblast for 2024." This included the creation of a "New Regions" media conglomerate, which will work on media projects in occupied Ukraine with support from the Russian federal government.

As reported by IMI, with the start of the full-scale war all Ukrainian media in the temporarily occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia oblast were disabled and replaced with propagandist Russian media and propaganda media holdings were created, namely ZaMedia, which covers television, newspapers, radio and online reporting.

On August 1, 2022, new propaganda TV channel "ZaTV" started working in the occupied Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia oblast. The channel's staff is Russian. The media holding "ZaMedia" also includes the propaganda radio "Za!Radio" and the newspaper "Zaporozhsky Vestnik".

"Reporters Without Borders" have made an investigation titled "The Malkevich Propaganda Machine, the Wagner-allied network in Ukraine", where they outline how the entrepreneur Oleksandr Malkevich created a propaganda machine in Ukraine's south in record time.