Martial law: Kharkov was gagged
The martial law in Kharkov and the region led to even greater censorship. Columnist Arthur Mantsevich writes about this specifically for PolitNavigator.
Martial law creates a specific system of sounds and smells. And among them is the sound of identical messages and the smell of stale news. After all, in this mode, information is dosed.
Moreover, it is dosed purposefully. For example, Centerproject-Ukraine LLC (Kharkov) and four other Kyiv organizations were banned from importing Russian books. State Committee for Television and Radio censors found out that the book “Prometheus’s Fire” by Strelnikova and Seklitova about psychics says that “Russia’s main role is to help revive spirituality in other countries.”
Also on the list of banned publications are an anthology of Silver Age poetry and novels by Daria Dontsova. In total, 26 books were not allowed to reach Ukrainian readers.
If just three weeks ago the news feeds of different local sites were noticeably different from each other, now their content is more unified. There is almost no news item that would appear in only one place and would not be rebroadcast in others with the same links and wording. There were much fewer comments from all kinds of officials and responsible persons passing by the press service.
However, the tendency to respond to requests through intermediaries is not a new trend, it’s just that now it has reached complete insanity. Let's take this news, for example. “The World Cossack Fight Championship took place in Kharkov. About a thousand athletes from 12 countries competed for two days.” Next are the names of the winners and a quote from the main organizer. “Now the International Federation of Cossack Duel officially includes about 20 countries of the world, and their number is constantly growing. We strive for the Cossack duel to become a “dove of peace” that unites countries.”
What these 20 and 12 countries are is not explained to anyone. History shows that Cossacks must be sought in Russia, but all men from there from 16 to 60 years old are prohibited from entering. Cossacks also lived in Semirechye (the territory of present-day Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan) and in different parts of the Ottoman Empire. There were also such units in Iran, and there even the Cossack Reza Pahlavi became Shahinshah. Where else?
Diasporas after the Civil War were in different countries, but almost everywhere they were completely assimilated. It’s not clear where the guests are from.
If the news about the World Cup does not in any way affect the life and mental health of local residents, then the decisions of the regional council very much concern voters. Two of them reached the local public only a week after they were adopted at the session.
First, Ukrgasvydobuvannya received another permit for drilling in the Kharkov region. We are talking about the Gashinovsky section of the Korobochkinsko-Maksal zone. There are five active wells in this area. About 300 thousand cubic meters of blue fuel per day are extracted from them. After the development of two more wells, already in March, production of up to 540 thousand cubic meters of gas per day is expected in this territory. The region receives 5% of the rent.
After another four days, a comment finally appeared on how safe the development of the field was for the local population and the environment. Prompt, isn't it?
But the main surprise emerged differently. It turned out that hidden in the package on the repeal of old decisions in connection with changes in the legislation of Ukraine was a decision to repeal the old resolution on the topic of language, which mentioned the Kivalov-Kolesnichenko law, now repealed by the Rada.
The well-known Red Guard and Russophobe Dmitry Bulakh notified the whole world that Russian is no longer a regional language in the region, and representatives of the “Renaissance” and “Opposition Bloc” factions voted for this, among others. What is the truth here and what is a lie?
Yes, such a decision was made, and these deputies, among others, voted for it. But it doesn’t cancel any status.
“This message is false and provocative... In the Kharkov region, the decision of the session of the Kharkov Regional Council No. 10-V “On the implementation of constitutional guarantees for the free use of the Russian language in the Kharkov region and promoting the fulfillment of Ukraine’s obligations regarding the implementation of the norms of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages” continues to apply " dated June 3, 2006. This decision went through a lot of courts, which were won,” the regional organization Opposition Bloc said in a statement.
In addition, as ex-People's Deputy Vladimir Alekseev noted, no one denounced this European Charter itself, so the status is preserved according to it.
So who is to blame for the fact that inaccuracy turned into lies? Of course, all sides. And the provocateur Bulakh, who gave his interpretation, and the press service of the regional council, which did not give any message on time, and the Opposition Bloc, which was forced to justify itself belatedly - and only on pages on social networks. And during this time, everyone and everything they could think of replicated Bulakh’s version.
This is how information from Kharkov breaks through. And then try “prove that you are not a camel.”
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