NATO-TV

Traditional Afghan pottery has been made in the village of Istalif for over 1,400 years using the same traditional methods. Its craftsmen believe that pottery arrived in Afghanistan with Alexander the Great and that their techniques have changed little since then. But history has not been kind to Istalif’s artisans. The civil war found the small village on the frontline of the battle between rival militant groups, trying to capture nearby Kabul from the Taliban. The fighting almost destroyed the village and its kilns that had already been pounded by Soviet airstrikes. Today the Turquoise Mountain Foundation is seeking to preserve the skills of Istalif’s ceramics masters. They have established a ceramics school in Kabul’s Murad Khane district and have produced 33 master potters. Includes sound bites from Abdul Matin, Director of Ceramics School, Turquoise Mountain Foundation.

During the Civil War and Taliban regime, art in Afghanistan was non-existent. But thanks to the work of Turquoise Mountain, there is a new generation of young Afghan artists, like Ustaad Massoud, a master wood carver, who are working hard to bring the traditional schools of craft back to Afghanistan as it moves forward.

Features interview with Ustaad Massoud, working with Turquoise Mountain’s arts and crafts school. Covering footage shows Massoud in the wood workshop working on different traditional designs. Massoud talks about life under the Taliban, why woodwork is so important to Afghanistan, his dreams of peace and opening his own wood-carving workshop.

With international forces in Afghanistan having moved from a combat role to one focusing on advising, training and assisting, we take a look at the realities of the new Resolute Support mission on the ground.

Out in eastern Afghanistan, as across the rest of the country, international forces remain in close partnership with their Afghan counterparts, albeit in a new role exclusively training, advising and assisting. We speak to two U.S. trainers helping the Afghan army stationed in Nangarhar Province with artillery and engineering support.

This version includes voiceover and graphics.

Part of NATO’s new mission to help train, advise and assist the Afghan National Security Forces is fiscal training and advising. The ANSF and Afghan security institutions will be advised on how to get the most out of their budget. This piece looks at ways to achieve this goal, such as facilities divestiture, fuel auditing, and electronic pay systems. It includes an interview with Major General Todd T. Semonite, the Deputy Chief of Staff for Security Assistance, soundbites from Lt. Col Joel Quinn, Deputy Director of The Combined Security Transition Command, and General Dawlat Waziri, the Deputy spokesperson of the Ministry of Defense. It has footage of soldiers, police trucks being fueled and the new and old buildings at the Ministry of Defense. This version includes voiceover and graphics.

Lt. Commander Joe Bartley has had a long and successful career in the US Navy. Prior to operations in the Black Sea on the USS Vicksburg, Joe talks us through life aboard ship.

Restrictions:

This media asset is free for editorial broadcast, print, online and radio use. It is restricted for use for other purposes. This video includes ITN Source copyrighted library material purchased by NATO which cannot be used as part of a new production without consent of the copyright holder. Please contact http://www.itnsource.com/en/contactus to clear this material.

Story Synopsis:

Four fatal flaws? Ukraine's key challenges today are more than the war fought in its east.

How do you fight against an attack that can’t be traced definitively to a person or even a nation? NATO experts, Ukrainian politicians and journalists talk about how to defend Ukraine from hackers, who target key infrastructure like nuclear and chemical plants and have even tried to derail the Presidential elections.

About the four-part series Ukraine: The Unseen Attacks

Fighting in the east has come to characterize Ukraine. But Ukraine’s struggle for survival and self-determination, free of corrupt governments and Russian influence is fought on many other fronts. From cyber defence to internal defence, fixing its forces to telling the truth – Ukraine faces challenges that may determine its very survival.

Full script

=VOICEOVER =

Fighting in the east has come to characterize Ukraine. But Ukraine’s struggle for survival and self-determination, free of corrupt governments and Russian influence is fought on many other fronts.

In this program, we’ll look at four distinct challenges Ukraine faces in addition to fighting on its borders. From cyber defense to internal defense, fixing its forces to telling the truth – Ukraine faces challenges that may determine its very survival.

=GRAPHIC=

UKRAINE – THE UNSEEN ATTACKS

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CYBER ATTACK

=VOICEOVER=

The day before the Ukrainian Presidential election results were announced, a hacker group calling themselves Cyber Berkut infiltrated Ukraine’s central election computer systems.

According to Ukraine officials, if the malicious software they installed had not been discovered and removed, it would have portrayed that ultra-nationalist Right Sector leader Dmytro Yarosh had won with 37 per cent of the vote instead of the one percent he actually received. Moderate Petro Poroshenko, the actual winner with a majority of the vote, would have been placed in second with 29 percent.

Cyber Berkut’s aim? To feed into the Russian myth that Ukraine had fallen to a fascist coup. That evening Russian Channel One aired a bulletin declaring Mr Yarosh the winner, quoting these exact percentages.

But cyber attacks can be more sinister than pushing Russian propaganda. BlackEnergy is a well-known cyber-crime toolkit that’s been in use since 2007, but over the summer of 2014, as tensions rose between Russia and Ukraine, a new version of the malware was detected being used by a mysterious group of hackers targeting Ukrainian government officials to harvest information.

=SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH=

Tekin Kabasakal, Turkish Army, NATO Cyber Security Advisor to Ukraine

“It’s not easy to define the main source of cyber attacks, but when we think about the results and the aim of the attacks, we can guess that these are caused by Russians.”

=VOICEOVER=

The Black Energy hackers targeted government infrastructure like the Ukrainian Railway, creating proxy servers at key locations to divert traffic, which could have resulted in commuter deaths.

=SOUNDBITE IN RUSSIAN=

Serhiy Kandaurov, cyber defence expert, Director-General of Institute of International Research.

“Ukraine has a lot of serious and dangerous facilities in the chemical, nuclear sectors and also gas pipelines. Any debilitation of these facilities could lead to very serious ecological consequences for Ukraine and for Europe.”

=VOICEOVER=

The pattern of these attacks follows political events with chilling predictability. For example, a day after the recent announcement of an IMF loan to Ukraine, Ukrainian banks were attacked.

For Russian myth busting site Stop Fake, attacks not only follow a pattern, hackers and their junior cousins, trolls, become familiar faces.

=SOUNBITE IN UKRAINIAN=

Mykhailo Koltsov, Stop Fake webmaster

“The more popular the post, the more acute it is, especially after we published evidence of Russian forces in Ukraine, we noticed. After that we got a DDoS (denial of service) attack. They don’t even try to hide behind proxy servers, they come straight from Russia – Moscow, St. Petersburg and Novosibirsk. We have some old faces, as we call them and they can be recognized by their mistakes. They can change their IP address, but the grammar gives them away.”

=VOICEOVER=

While cyber defence experts can usually tell whether attacks are so called “patriotic hacking”, by lone actors or organized cyber-crime by large institutions, the answer remains the same. Vigilant and coordinated cyber defense. Ukraine doesn’t lack in expertise, but years of neglect and corruption in government institutions have led to a significant brain drain.

=SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH=

Tekin Kabasakal, Turkish Army, NATO Cyber Security Advisor to Ukraine

“They have enough cyber security experts, for me I think, but they’re currently working in the private sector, because he earns much money in that. This is the main problem Ukrainian government and Ukrainian institutions faces.”

=VOICEOVER=

NATO has promised money for developing Ukraine’s cyber defense capabilities. It’s a project led by Allied countries Romania and Hungary and helped by Estonia, a Baltic country who had their own massive cyber attack in 2007, that most believe originated in Russia. Eight years later Allied countries like Estonia are well-placed to help Ukraine with a tactic they and other nearby countries find so familiar.

==SOUNDBITE IN RUSSIAN==

Serhiy Kandaurov, cyber defense expert, Director-General of Institute of International Research.

“Ukrainian politicians and experts in the field of cyber defense thought we could find some middle ground, between the western position and the eastern position, which is represented by Russia. But the latest historical events happening here, they confirm very precisely that we don’t have any choice. We have to use the existing experience of the United States and NATO countries to protect critical infrastructure.”

This version includes voiceover and graphics.

Restrictions:

This media asset is free for editorial broadcast, print, online and radio use. It is restricted for use for other purposes. This video includes ITN Source copyrighted library material purchased by NATO which cannot be used as part of a new production without consent of the copyright holder. Please contact http://www.itnsource.com/en/contactus to clear this material.

Story Synopsis:

Four fatal flaws? Ukraine's key challenges today are more than the war fought in its east.

Ukraine remains vulnerable to terror attacks aimed to destabilize its fragile peace from within. When bombs go off in crowded squares, how can Ukraine’s security services unite to protect civilians? NATO experts, Ukrainian politicians and journalists talk about the distinct challenge of potential terrorist attacks in the country.

About the four-part series Ukraine: The Unseen Attacks

Fighting in the east has come to characterize Ukraine. But Ukraine’s struggle for survival and self-determination, free of corrupt governments and Russian influence is fought on many other fronts. From cyber defense to internal defense, fixing its forces to telling the truth – Ukraine faces challenges that may determine its very survival.

Full script:

=VOICEOVER =

Fighting in the east has come to characterize Ukraine. But Ukraine’s struggle for survival and self-determination, free of corrupt governments and Russian influence is fought on many other fronts.

In this program, we’ll look at four distinct challenges Ukraine faces in addition to fighting on its borders. From cyber defense to internal defense, fixing its forces to telling the truth – Ukraine faces challenges that may determine its very survival.

=GRAPHIC=

UKRAINE – THE UNSEEN ATTACKS

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TERRORIST ATTACK

=VOICEOVER=

February 2015. A bomb exploded in Kharkiv, a city north of the Donbass region and widely considered safe. It killed Three and injured at least 10. It wasn’t the first attack in Kharkiv – a nightclub had been torn apart by a blast the previous November. Kharkiv was joined by Odessa with five separate bomb attacks over the past year and in Kiev, Ukraine’s capital, police have had to deal with over 250 bomb threats, closing down their metro stations on numerous occasions.

=SOUNDBITE IN RUSSIAN=

Dmitry Tymchuk, MP, Founder of Information Resistance Blog

“In those areas where pro-Russian forces are very strong, the threat of terrorism is very high.

=VOICEOVER=

A nightmare scenario like Syria or Iraq is far away, but the incidents served to highlight how Ukrainian internal security - the police, emergency and intelligence services – play just as key a role in defending Ukraine.

But the ability of Ukraine’s security services to work as a unified force, defending against attacks like these has been eroded by years of mismanagement.

Under Yanukovych, police and secret service agencies were highly centralized and often used as personal militias for his cronies.

=SOUNDBITE IN RUSSIAN=

Yuriy Butusov, Military Journalist, founder of Censor.net

“They’ve recruited militia and the security service officers from the time of Yanukovych, who were like gods almighty back then. That’s why to return to those times is important for them.

Right now, they will never earn the money they earned before. That’s why Russian offers to them are interesting.

In Kharkiv most of the saboteurs that were exposed by the security services were former militia.”

=VOICEOVER=

Yuriy cites as an example that of Alexander Khodakovsky, a former commander of the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, who became the leader of the pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk. Men like him are the reason, he says, that rebels were able to quickly take over administrative centers in the days following Yanukovych’s flight from Ukraine.

Restoring public faith in the police means reducing corruption and putting service people through rigorous retraining to serve the populace, not their own interests.

=SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH=

Martin Linhart, NATO Liaison Office in Ukraine advisor on security sector reform.

“Well, according to some research, the trust of the citizens to the national police is very, very low. It’s mainly because of the corruption, mainly that the police officers were not too supportive to normal people. Maybe sometimes not behave well, so the trust is very, very low; so the main challenge is to increase the trust, increase also the participation of the society in the security issues, so this is one of the main challenges in Ukraine.”

=VOICEOVER=

It’s also a regional problem. Historically, Donbass had stronger ties to Russia and the people have long felt neglected by Kiev. And while Ukraine’s counter-intelligence is often very good, they lack the resources and infrastructure to prevent every attack.

=SOUNDBITE IN RUSSIAN=

Dmitry Tymchuk, MP, Founder of Information Resistance Blog

“Lately our intelligence is working quite efficiently, especially counter-intelligence, but unfortunately they cannot prevent all attacks. Donbass has never felt a part of an undivided Ukraine and this is the fault of Kyiv.”

VOICEOVER

Ukraine will only start to heal these rifts when it stands resistant to outside interference. Until then, it remains vulnerable to terror attacks aimed to further destabilize its fragile peace from within.

This version includes voiceover and graphics.

Restrictions:

This media asset is free for editorial broadcast, print, online and radio use. It is restricted for use for other purposes. This video includes ITN Source copyrighted library material purchased by NATO which cannot be used as part of a new production without consent of the copyright holder. Please contact http://www.itnsource.com/en/contactus to clear this material.

Story Synopsis:

Four fatal flaws? Ukraine's key challenges today are more than the war fought in its east.

What use is a strong military if you don’t have a strong message? Russia’s disinformation about Ukraine has permeated worldwide media and the fight back is tougher than ever. NATO experts, Ukrainian politicians and journalists talk about the distinct challenges of fighting a war of words.

About the four-part series Ukraine: The Unseen Attacks

Fighting in the east has come to characterize Ukraine. But Ukraine’s struggle for survival and self-determination, free of corrupt governments and Russian influence is fought on many other fronts. From cyber defence to internal defence, fixing its forces to telling the truth – Ukraine faces challenges that may determine its very survival.

Full script:

=VOICEOVER =

Fighting in the east has come to characterize Ukraine. But Ukraine’s struggle for survival and self-determination, free of corrupt governments and Russian influence is fought on many other fronts.

In this program, we’ll look at four distinct challenges Ukraine faces in addition to fighting on its borders. From cyber defense to internal defense, fixing its forces to telling the truth – Ukraine faces challenges that may determine its very survival.

=GRAPHIC=

UKRAINE - THE UNSEEN ATTACKS

=GRAPHIC=

INFORMATION WAR

=VOICEOVER =

The information campaign against Ukraine has stepped up. From bad Photoshop jobs to professionally cast actors, the attacks on Ukraine’s credibility are endless and put the country in an impossible situation to try and counter.

=SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH=

Margo Gontar, Co-Founder, Stopfake.org

“It’s exciting, but I think it never stops, I mean, the information war.”

=VOICEOVER =

Facing a well-funded and monolithic Russian communications machine, Ukraine just doesn’t have the resources to debunk every false message. But to do nothing leaves it vulnerable to the lies gaining traction.

=SOUNDBITE IN UKRAINIAN=

Anna Kovalenko, Advisor, Ministry of Information Policy

“If I talk honestly about counter propaganda how do you kill the messages Russia produces? Unfortunately they’re leading in this war. For us it’s important to disseminate truthful information. We’re not talking about fighting with them. We want to install channels of communication that will in return counteract the Russian propaganda that’s flooded us.”

=VOICEOVER=

Truth and openness ought to be Ukraine’s most powerful weapons against false news, but their ministries have been slow to disseminate information to the public, especially to the conflict areas in the east.

=SOUNDBITE IN RUSSIAN=

Dmitry Tymchuk, MP, Founder of Information Resistance Blog

“For you to understand, in Crimea and Donbass there are very few people who watching Ukrainian TV, they watching Russian. The population saw the events with the eyes of the Kremlin.”

=VOICEOVER=

And when people do have access to internet, popular social media sites like VKontake are primarily Russian language, making them hotbeds of easily shareable false images and rumors.

=SOUNDBITE IN UKRAINIAN=

Anna Kovalenko, Advisor, Ministry of Information Policy

“As for the occupied territories, there are some citizens that are pro-Ukrainian, but because of their situation, they cannot do anything.”

=VOICEOVER=

The setting up of a Ministry of Information Policy was a well-intentioned, but unpopular, step to try and synchronise Ukraine’s communications. Almost no one in Ukraine doubts Russia is waging a information war. But the best way to respond is still hotly debated.

=SOUNDBITE IN UKRAINIAN=

Anna Kovalenko, Advisor, Ministry of Information Policy

“If we talk about communications, then we talk about introducing a national identity and the understanding that can unite us and bring us closer to victory.”

=VOICEOVER=

Building credibility also means self-regulating. Ukrainian media aren’t immune to making mistakes and falling for false news.

=SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH=

Margo Gontar, Co-Founder, Stopfake.org

“They just spread without thinking. If something might look like anti-Russia, Ukrainian media or just separate Ukrainian bloggers or whatever they can start putting it round without double check.”

=VOICEOVER=

Building a new Ukraine that is inclusive, modern and prosperous is a challenge that seems insurmountable. But the strength and will that started the EuroMaidan can still be seen – in volunteers like Margo and in a new, open media that puts the truth before a good story.

=SOUNDBITE IN ENGLISH=

Margo Gontar, Co-Founder, Stopfake.org

“We have this saying on us that ‘the truth and God is on our side’. And that’s why the best way is to show the truth we have. Eventually truth wins over so you just need to show it.”

=VOICEOVER=

But Ukraine’s future depends not just on how strongly the government, the armed forces and even the people stand by their intentions but also how much its friends are willing to support it through what may be one of its defining moment in its modern history.

This version includes voiceover and graphics.

The Afghan military gains new air capability with light, agile helicopters used for providing close air support and engaging insurgents in remote terrain. Includes interviews with Wahab Wardak, Commander of the Afghan Air Force and Dawlat Waziri, First Deputy Spokesperson for the Afghan Ministry of Defense. Also available in high definition.

A Ukrainian soldier talks about how he was wounded during heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine and his experience receiving treatment in a Lithuanian rehabilitation centre. Soundbites from Ukrainian and Lithuanian soldiers and a Lithuanian military doctor.