Fifteen years ago, the term "information aggression" did not exist at all, but today scholars have written thousands of papers equating media with weapons, and NATO calls disinformation campaigns an important component of modern warfare. The annexation of Crimea was the point at which the active phase of the information war that Russia unleashed against Ukraine began. The CEMAAT media platform has repeatedly shared information about Crimean journalists who have retrained as Russian propagandists. Today, we have another "blacklist". We are publishing the first part of it in the hope of drawing the attention of Ukrainian law enforcement to these names, as there are currently not enough criminal cases and court verdicts against Crimean media collaborators.

‍Yekateryna Kozyr ‍

Before the annexation, she was the head of the Ukrainian state television and radio company Krym (ukr. Crimea - Ed.). In 2014, the occupiers included the company in the list of Russian state media, and Kozyr became its director and held this position until 2018, when she moved from her native Crimea to the Russian city of Kaluga. Under her leadership, the Krym 24 and First Crimean TV channels, as well as several radio stations, were launched. So, it is thanks to her that tons of aggressive hostile propaganda have been poured on Crimeans around the clock for more than 11 years, but Kozyr's name is currently neither on the Ukrainian sanctions lists nor in criminal proceedings. 

‍‍Vladimir Andronaki‍

The former journalist of the Crimean TV company Chernomorka began collaborating with the occupiers in 2014. First he headed the newspaper "Krymskoye vremya" (”Crimean Time” - Ed.), then he was a presenter on the radio "Krym", and after the full-scale invasion he went to the occupied Melitopol, where he became one of the founders of the TV company "Za! TV". It is on its airwaves that residents of the occupied Zaporizhzhia region are convinced that Russia has liberated them and that the state of Ukraine does not exist. Andronaki does this, among other things, personally in his author's program "After the News". However, Ukraine has not yet initiated any criminal cases or sanctions against him.

‍‍Sergey Rudenko

Editor-in-chief of the occupation TV channel "Vostochny Krym 24" (rus. ”Eastern Crimea” - Ed.) and freelance reporter for "Russia Today". Author of many reports from the contact line and the newly occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. He glorifies the murderers and rapists serving in the Russian army, calls the massacres of Ukrainians "the fight against Nazism" and the abuse of residents of the occupied territories "anti-terrorist measures". However, the SBU and the Ukrainian prosecutor's office have not yet gotten their hands on Rudenko. His name is also not on the sanctions lists.

‍Boris Sedenko

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Editor-in-chief of the publication "Crimean newspaper. Special issue". This weekly publication is distributed among Russian soldiers on the front line and aims to boost their morale. For his faithful service, he was awarded the title of "Journalist of the Year" by the Russian propaganda machine, and suspected by the SBU under the articles "Collaboration" and "Justification of Russian aggression". Sedenko faces up to 12 years in prison. 

‍Yuriy Avdeyev

 Correspondent of the occupation TV channels Krym 24 and Za! TV". Even before the annexation, he worked for Sergey Aksyonov's pro-Russian party “Russian Unity”. He passionately supported the occupation of Crimea and then Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He is the author of propaganda stories from the newly occupied territories of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. Last year, he moved from occupied Sevastopol to occupied Melitopol. Ukrainian prosecutors suspect Avdeyev under the article "Justification of Russian aggression". 

‍Daria Safonova

Editor-in-chief of the occupation TV channel "Krym", one of the founders of the propaganda project "Kherson 24". Prior to the annexation, she worked as a Crimean correspondent for the Ukraine TV channel. Safonova moved to Crimea from Kaliningrad, Russia, in the early 2000s, and, according to some reports, entered into a fictitious marriage with a Crimean man to obtain Ukrainian citizenship. Today she is one of the pillars of Russian propaganda on the peninsula. Criminal proceedings have been initiated against Safonova under two articles of the Ukrainian Criminal Code: justification of Russian aggression and collaboration. She faces 12 years in prison.

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