Odesa region stops hostile propaganda on the border with Transnistria

Towers in Odesa region block Russian propaganda and spread Ukrainian signals on the border with unrecognized Transnistria.

This was reported by Oleh Kiper, the head of the Odesa Regional State Administration, to Suspilne journalists.

According to the official, Odesa region has taken a course to counter Russian propaganda by installing repeaters on the border with Transnistria. The operation is intended to block hostile signals and spread Ukrainian broadcasting.

Kiper said that the towers have already been activated, and they have significantly strengthened the information security of the southern regions. This is a strategically important step to protect the information space and counteract the influence of Russian propaganda, which, according to Kiper, has long been trying to convince residents that Odesa is part of Russia.

The project, which was announced in June of this year, covers about 400 km of the border with the Transnistrian Moldovan Republic, where Russian signals have reached up to 100 km into Ukrainian territory. The first steps have already been taken, and experts continue to work to completely block Russian channels and replace them with Ukrainian ones.

It is worth noting that the Center for Public Investigations was one of the first to draw attention to this. For several years, journalists have been drawing the authorities' attention to the problems with access to Ukrainian TV and radio channels in the border area and the spread of Russian propaganda to these regions via transmitters in Moldova and satellite.

In March, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine decided to allocate UAH 152 million from the state budget reserve fund to deploy a system that will block anti-Ukrainian broadcasting in the border regions. The funds from the reserve fund were allocated to the State Special Communications Service for the purpose of "deploying a network for blocking anti-Ukrainian broadcasting in the border regions of Ukraine using selective blocking systems for radio and television signals."

The allocated funds will be used to install complexes for blocking TV and radio signals from Russia, Belarus and unrecognized Transnistria. Such complexes will be installed in 45 locations in the border area of nine regions, namely Volyn, Rivne, Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, Vinnytsia, and Odesa.

The funds allocated by the government will be used to purchase and install the signal blocking systems, as well as to cover the costs of operating these systems for the next 8 months. The systems were expected to be installed on May 1.

In September 2023, during the first meeting with journalists of the head of Odesa region, Valeriy Bolhan , the head of the CTRC, raised the issue of Russian radio still being broadcast in Podilsk. The fact is that it is broadcast from the territory of the Transnistrian region of Moldova temporarily occupied by Russia, and in addition to music, Russian propaganda is spread.

"This is a rather complicated process. It's still being worked out. There are a lot of negotiations going on today, because this is equipment, and a lot of money is needed. We also need to give the population an alternative to these radio stations. We have not stopped with this. I myself was also in Podilsk and heard these broadcasts there," said Kiper, the head of the administration.

In 2022, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation faked that in order to restrict the information space in Odesa, satellite television providers broadcasting Russian and Moldovan channels were banned.

As reported by the South Operational Command at the time, in their fake reports, the Russians claimed that residents were being forced to dismantle satellite equipment and that all those who disagreed were being taken to an unknown destination.

Ірина Глухова