ANALYSIS: Russian Internet project targets Ukraine (09/23/01)

ANALYSIS

Russian Internet project targets Ukraine

by Jan Maksymiuk
RFE/RL Poland, Belarus and Ukraine Report

A new Russian-language website devoted to Ukraine appeared last month at http://www.ukraine.ru. The website is attributed to Russia's National Information Service Strana.ru.

Editor-in-Chief Sergei Sklyarov explained his goals for the website in the following way:

"[Russia's] closest neighbors are beyond the field of vision of [Russian] media outlets, newsmakers, and experts. ... The closest and one of the largest of Russia's neighbors - Ukraine - is gradually becoming a blank spot on the map of foreign news. The lack of information entails the lack of experts' attention, the lack of experts' attention entails the silence of the media, and the silence of the media entails the lack of information. This is a vicious circle that creates the situation of an unintentional informational quasi-blockade. ... The project Ukraine.ru is the first serious step toward breaking this blockade.

"The project consists of two parts: references and news. The references part (the 'Map of Ukraine' catalogue) is a regularly updated source of full information about the most significant spheres of life of present-day Ukraine - politics, economics, religion, elections, the history of the country.

"The news part is presented as a news tape consisting of a priority piece of news labeled 'urgent,' a main subject including information about a key event in Ukraine or around her, and two topics of the day that present topical materials of interest for the Russian public. Apart from these, the website has a section of interviews - updated every day - which consists of exclusive interviews with leading Ukrainian and Russian experts, politicians and representatives of the authorities, [as well as those of] public and business organizations. ... The website is primarily oriented toward Russian users who are interested in Ukrainian problems - journalists, analysts, and experts on Ukraine."

The Ukrainian independent website Ukrayinska Pravda on August 27 ran a comment by Oleksander Brams offering an insight into the appearance of the above-mentioned Internet project. According to Ukrayinska Pravda, "the Ukraine.ru website was actually created by specialists from Russia's Fund of Effective Policy (FEP), following an order from the Kremlin. FEP is a private political-consulting organization set up in 1995, which has gradually become Russia's leading organization in the development of the Russian Internet. FEP head Gleb Pavlovskii and FEP board chairwoman Marina Litvinovich are widely believed to be chief political consultants of the Kremlin and Russian President Vladimir Putin," according to Ukrayinska Pravda."

FEP has launched some 40 Internet projects, including such important and influential Internet publications as Strana.ru, Lenta.ru, Vesti (http://www.vesti.ru), and Gazeta.ru.

Mr. Brams said he believes that the inauguration of the Ukraine.ru website reflects Russia's increasing political interests in Ukraine and the Kremlin's intention to influence Ukraine's information sphere in the run-up to next year's parliamentary elections. He commented: "It is obvious that the Ukraine.ru project will vigorously participate in the division of money that will be spent by Ukrainian politicians and parties for advertising in the upcoming elections. There is no doubt that this informational project will be ... one of the most frequently visited websites devoted to Ukraine."

Mr. Brams added that in the first two days of its existence, the Ukraine.ru website already outdistanced Ukrayinska Pravda, Ukraine's most popular website, in the number of website hits per day by some 10 to 30 percent.

Mr. Brams also argues that the Ukraine.ru website is primarily intended for Ukrainian users. He cites Russian Internet developer Anton Nosik to support his point:

"The newly created Ukraine.ru is hardly pursuing informational goals. The target audience of any Moscow media outlet that writes about Ukrainian matters is Ukrainian readers, not Russian ones. And the Russian media tell those Ukrainian readers: this is how the Kremlin is viewing Kuchma, your elections, candidates, Lazarenko and Tymoshenko. The stance of the Big Brother may be of interest for some people in Kyiv. As for Russian readers, if they suddenly become interested in Ukrainian topics, they will look for Ukrainian information resources, not for a 'look from Moscow.' "

Jan Maksymiuk is the Belarus, Ukraine and Poland specialist on the staff of RFE/RL Newsline.

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