The event of the Center for Countering Disinformation, a working body of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, was attended by ambassadors and foreign representatives of 24 countries. Presentations were made by Sten Nørlov, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Ukraine; Bartosz Cichocki, Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to Ukraine; Ilgvārs Kļava, Ambassador of the Republic of Latvia to Ukraine; Valeriu Chieveri, Ambassador of Moldova to Ukraine; Dragica Ponorac, Ambassador of Montenegro to Ukraine; Benjamin Rohrig, Chargé d’Affaires of the French Republic to Ukraine; Taras Kremin, Commissioner for the Protection of the State Language; Dimitri Teperik, Director of the Resilient Ukraine Program, Director General of the International Center for Defense and Security “ICDS” in Estonia; Thomas Balkus, Head of the Information Environment Assessment Unit, Strategic Communications Department of the Lithuanian Armed Forces; Hannes Neugebauer, Political Affairs Officer, Embassy of Germany in Ukraine; Robert Post, Public Affairs Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv; Molly Graham, First Secretary, Political and Bilateral Affairs Section, Embassy of Canada; Mikael Tofvesson, Head of Operations, Swedish Mental Health Agency; Olena Ursu, Team Leader, Democratic Governance Project, UNDP Ukraine; Ben Heap, Senior Expert, StratCom Partnership Project Manager in Ukraine, NATO Center for Strategic Communications; Sarah Sorensen, Senior Expert, Senior National Representative, Science and Technology Development Branch, NATO Center for Strategic Communications; and Iryna Kireeva, Deputy Director of the Sanctions Policy Department, Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.
The event was opened by Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, and Andriy Shapovalov, Acting Head of the Center for Countering Disinformation, a working body of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.
The participants discussed the phenomenon of infoterrorism. The parties emphasized that infoterrorism is as real as conventional terrorism and has no less consequences.
In particular, Andriy Shapovalov presented the main aspects of the international activities of the CCD, because “all the efforts of partner states should be joint in this fight.” The participants also exchanged views on the concept of disinformation. In the report, the Center’s experts noted that disinformation should be classified as an information crime, which also includes cybercrime (cyberterrorism, digital piracy, information fraud, unauthorized access to computers and interception of information, etc.), as well as direct information crimes, which consist of manipulating information, creating and disseminating narratives that threaten the safety and lives of people.
Andriy Shapovalov proposed a definition of the term “information terrorism” as a policy of planned and systematic use of information terror to achieve certain, often political, goals.
“This is a direct deliberate influence on the psyche and consciousness of people to form the desired thoughts and judgments that in a certain way direct people’s behavior,” he said.
The acting Head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at the NSDC of Ukraine also proposed to introduce the term “infoterrorism” at the international legislative level, as well as to provide for liability for committing infoterrorism.
