NEW RESOURCES

National Union of Journalists of Ukraine: NUJU in cooperation with UNESCO and RSF adapted in Ukrainian the famous Safety Guide for Journalists. “In response to the war in Ukraine and the additional dangers for Ukrainian and foreign journalists, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), in partnership with UNESCO, prepared a Ukrainian-language adaptation of the Safety Guide for Journalists. This handbook offers practical advice to reporters going to high-risk areas, where they should be ready for a wide range of dangers that may include armed conflict, epidemics, natural disasters and street protests.”

The Irish Times: Pandora Papers: New release reveals more than 800 Russians behind secret companies. “The data includes newly discovered details about companies tied to Russian president Vladimir Putin’s allies and other Russian political figures who shelter assets behind opaque businesses that can also be used to escape global sanctions. The database now contains information on more than 800,000 offshore companies, foundations and trusts, and links to people and companies in more than 200 countries and territories, which can be publicly searched and downloaded.”

The PIE: Germany: DAAD launches platform for Ukrainians. “The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has launched an online platform aiming to help 100,000 Ukrainian students and researchers continue their studies or academic careers in Germany.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

New York Times: China’s Echoes of Russia’s Alternate Reality Intensify Around the World. “China’s officials and state media are increasingly parroting Russian propaganda organs on the war in Ukraine, undercutting U.S. and European diplomatic efforts, even after the killings in Bucha.”

USEFUL STUFF

Poynter: These viral videos are not from the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “For the past few weeks, we’ve watched the crisis in Ukraine unfold on social media. But misinformation follows a crisis. We’re seeing a ton of false or out-of-context photos and videos going viral online, claiming to show what’s really happening in Ukraine. Here are three methods you can use to fact-check these types of posts, both on desktop and mobile.”

AROUND THE INTERNET WORLD

Estonian World: Estonian startup opens e-classrooms for Ukrainian refugees. “Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Estonian education entrepreneur Maria Rahamägi is using her ed-tech platform to bring Ukrainian students and teachers some semblance of normalcy, by opening online classrooms where they can find solace in community, continue to forge their own identities and reassert their right to self-determination.”

WIRED: The Race to Archive Social Posts That May Prove Russian War Crimes. “IN EARLY APRIL, as Ukraine started to regain control of Bucha and other small towns northwest of Kyiv, appalling imagery began to spread on Telegram and other social networks. Photos and videos showed bodies in the streets and anguished survivors describing loved ones, civilians, killed by Russian soldiers. In Chernivtsi, in western Ukraine, attorney Denys Rabomizo carefully built an archive of the gruesome evidence. His aim: to preserve social media posts that could help prove Russian war crimes.”

BBC: Putin’s mysterious Facebook ‘superfans’ on a mission. “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been widely condemned in many parts of the world, but a network of Facebook groups run by people with obscure motivations would like to change perceptions of the country’s leader.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

WIRED: Tech Bans Hurt Russian Dissidents More Than They Help Ukraine. “Sprawling sanctions from Western governments have sought to isolate the Russian economy and punish the regime. While these measures are unprecedented, corporate sanctions have gone further still, suspending business in ways that go far beyond what the law requires or what governments intended…. But with many of the tech company restrictions, in particular, it’s Russian dissidents, not oligarchs, who are getting hurt.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

The Register: Russia cobbles together supercomputing platform to wean off foreign suppliers. “Russia is adapting to a world where it no longer has access to many technologies abroad with the development of a new supercomputer platform that can use foreign x86 processors such as Intel’s in combination with the country’s homegrown Elbrus processors.”

Washington Post Editorial Board: Opinion: Social media shouldn’t let China do Russia’s dirty work. “Social media sites chose fairly early on in the war to side against the aggressor, and made an impact by preventing RT, Sputnik and their cohorts from disseminating lies. The sites didn’t make this decision according to any broader principle about how to treat state-controlled media on their platforms. Yet China’s insistence on telling the more than 1 billion followers its channels command on Facebook that neo-Nazis running Ukraine bombed a children’s hospital, or that NATO is to blame for the fighting, offers an opportunity for just this sort of bright-line rule.”

MSNBC: Why Russia doesn’t need its lies about Ukraine to be believable. “I’d assumed photos and videos documenting the atrocities would be censored in Russia, that President Vladimir Putin’s regime would pretend the video doesn’t exist rather than confront the magnitude of its crimes….I was wrong. Rather than hide the images from the Russian people, the government has been working overtime to advance a much more chilling narrative, one aimed at persuading people not to believe their eyes.”

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