Russians create a new propaganda network in the occupied territories

Russians are creating a new propaganda outlet "Novoe.Media" in the occupied territories, reports the Luhansk Information Center (affiliated with the "LPR" paramilitary group).

"Novoe.Media" was first presented in Rostov-on-Don.

Larisa Rzhondovskaya is reported to be the chief editor. Open sources show that she is a media manager, columnist, author of the Telegram channel "Dorogaya Khurma". She has illegally traveled to the occupied territories through checkpoints which were closed off by Ukraine.

The "media outlet" is set to open first in the occupied territories of the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson oblasts.

However, by the end of the year, notes Larisa Rzhondovskaya, the network will have hyperlocal cells in small cities, not only in occupied oblast centers. About 20 of such cells are planned.

During the presentation, Rzhondovskaya called the occupied territories "Novorossiya". Note that this word has fallen out of use as far back as 2017, but propagandists started working to bring it back to relevance during the "World Youth Festival" in Sochi.

Judging by the comment under the post, the audience doubts the quality of content produced by Russians and local propagandists in the occupied territories.

Comment: "They should've made the existing ones work first, for God's sake". Photo – screenshot from the "LPR"-affiliated website LIC.

It should be noted that Russia has been proactively creating propaganda websites, TV channels, radio stations and even printed newspapers since the start of the full-scale invasion, as well as training new propagandists to work for these outlets.

For instance, they plan to create a "federal educational center Mayak" in Berdyansk, a city on the Azov Sea coast.

In January 2024, the Russians announced the "Boris Maksudov School for Young War Correspondents", which recruits schoolchildren and youth from the temporarily occupied part of Ukraine.

It was also reported in January that the Russian project "Novye v Media", which operates in Ukraine's occupied territories, received a million dollar grant from the Russian "Presidential Grants Fund". With these money, the Russians plan to create a "media center" for teenagers in the temporarily occupied Mariupol.

In March 2024, the Russians opened a photo contest in the temporarily occupied territory (TOT) of the Zaporizhzhia oblast. The contest's purpose was to portray the occupying authorities, in particular the Rosguard, as defenders and saviors. Not only Rosguard servicemen or employees, but also "their family members, mass media employees and civil society representatives who hold Russian citizenship" were invited to participate in the "photo contest".