Ukraine's Armed Forces Command obliged to coordinate talking points for interviews and blogs with Strategic Communications Department

Commanders and heads of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are now obliged to coordinate talking points for comments, blogs and interviews with the Strategic Communications Department of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (StratCom).

Source: Detector Media with reference to the relevant order, the veracity of which has been confirmed by two sources from communications units of Ukraine’s Armed Forces

Details: Commanders and heads of structural units within Ukraine’s defence forces, as well as military training facilities, institutions and organisations, have reportedly been obliged to coordinate talking points for interviews, briefings, blogs and comments "concerning the deployment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine" with the Strategic Communications Department – the structural unit of Ukraine’s Armed Forces that is responsible for organising strategic communications in Ukraine’s military.

The order applies to "the heads (commanders and chiefs) of structural units of the Office of the Commander-in-Chief and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, military management bodies, formations, military units, higher military training institutions, military training units within higher education establishments, institutions and organisations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and other bodies of the defence forces of Ukraine".

The order also says that any such materials, along with the minutes of the meeting of the expert commission on classified information, must be emailed to the Strategic Communications Department for consideration at least three days before publication.

The expert commission on classified information operates according to a resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine (No. 939 dated 18 December 2013) entitled On the Procedure for the Organisation and Facilitation of the Confidentiality Regime in State Agencies, Local Authorities, Enterprises, Institutions and Organisations. The resolution itself is stamped "For official use".

Detector Media’s sources said the order requiring the military to obtain approval for talking points was signed recently, although StratCom drafted it some time ago.

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