A meeting of the National Security and Defense of Ukraine was held
On December 29th a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine was held, during which the issues of imposing restrictive economic and other measures (sanctions), cyber security ensuring, critical infrastructure protection, adoption of the Doctrine of Information Security, State program of the Armed Forces development for the period till 2020 and changes to the military-administrative division of Ukraine were considered.
Because of the hybrid aggression of Russia against Ukraine the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine imposed additional sanctions against individuals and entities of the aggressor-state. In particular, the sanctions were imposed against persons illegally elected to the State Duma after the so-called "elections", held by the occupation authorities in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, against members of the so-called "election commissions" in the Crimea, against Ukrainian companies that were illegally re-registered according to the Russian legislation. Also, the sanctions were imposed against Russian officials, who belong to law enforcement agencies and courts and who were involved in the illegal detention of Ukrainian citizens in Russia.
The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine also applied sanctions against the former leaders of Ukraine, who were put on the international wanted lists and who are hiding abroad and are involved in the financing of terrorist activities and hybrid aggression of Russia against Ukraine.
Also, the sanctions were imposed against legal entities controlled by Russia and involved in the hybrid war against Ukraine in the sphere of information and cyberspace. To ensure transparency and to synchronize all the steps, the sanctions applied against individuals and legal entities were extended for one year.
Cyber-attacks against information systems of government agencies and critical infrastructure of Ukraine, coordinated by the Russian Federation, conditioned the need of to take urgent measures in order to strengthen the quality of cyberdefese and cybersecurity systems. In particular, this refers to the improvement of legislation, ensuring the standartization and unification of software and hardware solutions for the needs of the state, the development of a protected National telecommunications network, the protection of state information resources and the strengthening of the security and defense authorities' capacities in cyberspace.
Countering the hybrid aggression requires reliable protection of critical infrastructure, especially against terrorist and sabotage attacks. To this end, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, in execution of the National Security Strategy of Ukraine, has assigned the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine together with the Security Service of Ukraine to take urgent measures to improve the relevant system, providing appropriate legislative, organizational and resource support.
The National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine also approved the draft Doctrine of information security of Ukraine, developed by the Ministry of Information Policy of Ukraine together with the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on freedom of speech and information policy. The document provides the implementation of effective measures to counter Russian propaganda based on the strict observance of the values of free speech, journalists' rights, and Ukrainian media development.
Moreover, the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine supported the draft the State program of the Armed Forces development for the period till 2020 developed by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and changes to the military-administrative division of Ukraine.