“The strategy of information de-occupation should already be assessing the potential readiness of the whole Ukrainian society and its various vulnerable groups for a full-scale reintegration, which is, in communication terms, a complex conflict-generating topic by itself as this process might create new or revive some old sore points in Ukraine’s society,” Dmitri Teperik, ICDS Chief Executive and Programme Director of Resilient Ukraine said in a virtual forum “Opportunities in East”, organised by the Ukrainian Ministry for Reintegration of Temporary Occupied Territories on 15 December 2020.
Teperik added that in the future, a highly intense 5-6-year-long transition period will be required. Positive results of complete value-based cognitive reintegration will be seen in several generations from now as they will depend on joint efforts by state institutions, civil sector and business environment.
Yulia Laputina, Head of the Information Policy Directorate at the Ukrainian Ministry for Reintegration, commented on the implementation of the state strategy by saying that this document can be elaborated in order to address all upcoming challenges, including disinformation.
“It is reasonable now to engage in predictive analytics and forecasting of different scenarios to become ready for such aspects of reintegration which will potentially contribute to emergence of heterogeneous groups and new opinion leaders in Ukraine’s information and communication space, who will have different patterns of communication behaviour and media consumption as well different perception of threats to Ukraine’s security, ” Teperik concluded.
Estonian-Ukrainian development cooperation programme Resilient Ukraine is implemented by the International Centre for Defence and Security (ICDS) and supported by the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.