NEW RESOURCES

Drapers: New website to support Ukrainian fashion brands launches. “The platform… aims to help Ukrainian clothing, jewellery and accessories brands that still have access to their collections and can ship items worldwide, following Russia’s invasion on 24 February. Ukrainian fashion brands showcased on the website include Dhuz, Poustovit, and Alice K, among others.”

TWEAKS AND UPDATES

Ukrinform: Ukraine and the Netherlands have agreed to deepen cooperation in the protection of cultural heritage and museums. “The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine reported this after a virtual meeting between Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko and State Secretary for Culture and Media of the Netherlands Gunay Uslu and her team.”

Jerusalem Post: Map of Jewish heritage sites in Ukraine presented to Russian ambassador . “The locations of Jewish heritage sites in Ukraine were passed on to Anatoly Viktorov, Russia’s Ambassador to Israel by Yaakov Hagoel, the chairman of the World Zionist Organization (WZO) on Wednesday. In light of the great risk of damage to national Jewish heritage sites in Ukraine, Hagoel shared a map of the Jewish heritage sites in Ukraine with the Russian ambassador in order to avoid as much accidental damage to the sites as possible.”

The Moscow Times: Google Disconnects From Russian Servers Boosting Local Internet Speeds. “Google has disconnected its services from Russian servers designed to boost internet speeds, the RBC news website reported Thursday. Google Global Cache (GGC) allows local providers to offer Google content, including YouTube videos, from their own networks, lowering waiting times for customers. Without GGC, Russian users would experience slower access to Google content directly from the U.S. giant’s servers.”

AROUND THE SEARCH AND SOCIAL MEDIA WORLD

Ukrinform: TV screens installed all over Mariupol to spread Russian propaganda. “Russian invaders have installed 12 large TV screens on the streets in the seized city of Mariupol to broadcast Russian propaganda.”

The Guardian: ‘Ukraine’s heritage is under direct attack’: why Russia is looting the country’s museums. “The Cultural Heritage Monitoring Lab, run by the Virginia Museum of Natural History in association with the Smithsonian, has already logged more than 110 memorials destroyed by Russian weapons. But as well as destroying museums and galleries, Russian troops are accused of having stolen an estimated 2,000 artworks. In addition to the theft of the Scythian gold in Melitopol, in Mariupol a handwritten Torah scroll and a valuable gospel printed in Venice in 1811 were all have been taken.”

SECURITY & LEGAL

The Slovak Spectator: War in Ukraine prompts Slovakia to act against disinformation. “Last Friday, the cabinet and the parliament hastily passed an amendment to the Cyber Security Act allowing the National Security Authority (NBÚ) to shut down sources of ‘malicious content’. This means software or data that causes cyber security incidents, fraud, theft of data, serious misinformation and other forms of hybrid threats.”

Reuters: Russia opens cases against Google, other foreign tech over data storage. “Russia’s communications regulator Roskomnadzor said on Friday it had opened administrative cases against Alphabet Inc’s Google and six other foreign technology companies for alleged violations of personal data legislation. Moscow has clashed with Big Tech over content, censorship, data and local representation in a simmering dispute that has erupted into a full-on information battle since Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24.”

Reuters: Russian bailiffs seize around $120 mln from Google – Ifax. “Russian bailiffs have seized more than 7.7 billion roubles ($123.2 million) from Alphabet’s Google that the U.S. tech giant had been ordered to pay as part of a fine on its turnover, Interfax news agency reported on Thursday.”

RESEARCH & OPINION

Newswise: Putin Masking Invasion Policies with 1990s Humanitarian Propaganda, Finds Extensive Analysis. “Russia is reinventing decades-old propaganda based on supposed humanitarian principles to justify its invasion of Ukraine, according to research published in the peer-reviewed journal, The International Spectator. Carried out by an expert on Russia-NATO relations, this extensive analysis of Russia’s official foreign policy statements since the USSR’s collapse provides new insights into Vladimir Putin’s tactics regarding separatism.”

The Bookseller: Ukrainian children desperately need books – UK publishers, please help. “Sixty percent of Ukrainian refugees are children and more than 2.5 million Ukrainian children have been displaced within the country. Ukrainian refugee children are out of school and at high risk for abuse, developmental delay and psychosocial problems. Book reading and storytelling cannot solve these problems, but they can act as a mechanism to begin the healing process. Books are a source of information and democracy, and it is therefore in the interest of the global publishing industry to support Ukrainian publishers.”

United Nations: Cultural destruction in Ukraine by Russian forces will reverberate for years, UN rights expert warns. “The attempted destruction of Ukraine’s historic culture by invading Russian forces, will have a devastating impact on the pace of recovery in the post-war era, an independent UN human rights expert warned on Wednesday.”

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