Dmytro SHKURKO: “A single careless word could call forth certain political problems”
NATO’s KFOR peacemaking force in Kosovo has witnessed an unprecedented occasion, with an officer of a country, never a NATO member, becoming head of its public relations service. The officer is Lt. Col. Dmytro SHKURKO who, prior to his KFOR job, had been head of The Ukrainian Defense Ministry press service information group.
“It is known that NATO takes special pains to implement its own information policy. In any case, until now, never before has the alliance had a PR officer coming from a non-NATO country. How did this happen?”
“In the first place, I would like to state that there are officials in the KFOR’s information office authorized to make political statements and commentaries, the head of the office and two press secretaries. The department for work with the mass media, which I have headed for the last three months, does not give political evaluations — it merely releases current information on KFOR’s daily operations in Kosovo. I do agree with you, that NATO has never employed outsiders in this job. But I think that it is the accomplishment of all Ukrainian contingent attached to KFOR. High professionalism, dedication and efficient organization of the Ukrainian force inspires trust in our servicemen among KFOR commanders.
KFOR’s policy toward the press is based on equal treatment of all mass media outlets. Such an unbiased stand is very important, since even a single careless word could call forth certain political problems. We are aware that all periodical publications in Pri я stina mirror the views of certain political circles and parties. Our goal is to prevent any speculations arising concerning the KFOR and never to give causes to doubt our neutral stand with regard to all the sides involved in the conflict. A well- controlled attitude when dealing with mass media should be the rule of thumb for KFOR officers, for just a single phrase could cause a major problem for the whole contingent.”
“What reflects the biased attitudes of local mass media?”
“As I said earlier, we are conscious that the mass media in Pri я stina represents the views of certain political parties. The Albanians support the idea of Kosovo’s independence, while the Serbs completely reject it. Understandably, the mass media mirror all these political nuances. KFOR’s daily schedule is packed — clashes between the locals, crime, illegal possession of arms, etc. By timely and fully informing the public we prevent any prejudiced comment from appearing in the local mass media. Let me just add that Pri(tina has 90 radio stations and seven dailies, with not a single Serbian newspaper.”
“Do you mean this is evidence of discrimination against the Serbs?”
“I wouldn’t say that. At least, when the KFOR contingent arrived in Kosovo, there were no Serbian newspapers here. Albanian newspapers, naturally, interpret everything from their own perspective. The attitude of the Kosovars toward the Russian peacemakers is a good example of a prejudiced stand, with the Albanian media trying to portray their activities as illegal, even criminal. The policy of the KFOR command is to see to it that all member states involved in peacekeeping operations are implementing the same tasks, and the Russians should not be singled out from the rest of the KFOR. Thus, the Russian checkpoint has been recently attacked, with over 400 round fired at it from machine guns. The KFOR then released a statement saying this was an attack against the NATO peacemakers, not the Russians alone, and reserving the right to protect its military personnel.”
“The stand of the local population towards the Russians is clear. How about the servicemen from other contingents? The British, for instance, may have their reasons not to love the Russians as the latter had a jump on them, having captured the Pri я stina airport when NATO decided to move in.”
“The attitude of other NATO servicemen toward the Russians is balanced. Ukrainian battalion soldiers, incidentally, are on quite friendly terms with them. As for the British, suffice it to say that the British and the Russian peacemakers have recently taken part in a military exercise at the North KFOR brigade training grounds aimed to improve cooperation in the fulfillment of a joint mission. So, one can hardly speak about any negative attitude toward the Russians.”
“Unlike the military contingents of other countries which are stationed at their own sites, KFOR’s PR service is made up of representatives of various armed forces. How are you working with representatives of the different armies?”
“Understandably, with servicemen from Greece, Italy, Austria, France and Ukraine here, KFOR PR officers represent various cultures and mind-sets. So far, we have not had any conflicts. I should note that the chain of command in our service is different from those in national contingents. But subordination is here all right and a sergeant takes orders from a lieutenant colonel, as usual. Most important is that there is mutual respect, trust and team spirit. Professionalism is the most valuable asset here. You can be a general but, unless you are competent in your specific area, you will not earn your colleagues’ respect.”
“In addition to KFOR and the local public, you are to deal with foreign and international mass media. Are you responsible for their safety?”
“Under international law foreign journalists in Kosovo are protected by their governments and their publications. Those accredited with KFOR are protected by us and we spare no efforts to shield them from any trouble. It would be regarded as absolutely unprofessional if a KFOR officer left a civilian journalist in trouble in a conflict zone. We know all the specifics of the situation while foreign journalists coming here continue to live in the peaceful environment of their home countries. I could give you a score of examples. A cameraman would move freely around trying to shot something from a better position, with an officer warning him not to go to that green meadow because it could be mined. Very often, journalists misinterpret the motives of the military. Another recent example was when our service had arranged for correspondents to interview the Ukrainian peacemakers. Suddenly, we received a report that the Serbs had begun a demonstration which was moving in our direction. Simultaneously, a Kosovar demonstration started to move toward the Serbs. It was hard for the correspondents to realize that they had better leave the scene at once. In some ten minutes both mobs could have met precisely there, with no one sure what was going to happen next. Our service’s major goal, when dealing with foreign correspondents, is to keep them aware of the risks facing them in this danger zone.”
“Have there ever been cases when, following a foreign journalist’s stay in Kosovo and accreditation with your service, such a correspondent published something which you had to deny?”
“There may have been such cases when the mass media misrepresented KFOR operations and developments in Kosovo. Our service is not meant to give any political assessments: that is the business of politicians. Our goal is to throw light on KFOR’s routine activities, inform the public as best we can, and assist journalists working in the conflict zone. I would add here that unfortunately local journalists are politically biased. The foreign mass media are typically more objective. Anyway, I can’t recall any cases of a gross distortion of the facts by a foreign journalist.”
“What was the reaction in mass media to the death of a Ukrainian peacemaker?”
“Losses of servicemen, both in combat and due to accidents, are always viewed by KFOR with extreme sympathy. Since local residents treat the peacemakers quite well, they also take such losses to heart. I have talked to Serbs and Albanians: they all feel sympathy for KFOR and Ukraine, whose soldier was killed in the conflict. Quite recently, with a group of Ukrainian journalists we met the leader of the Democratic Party of Kosovo. This nationalist party of Albanians is dead set on the separation of the whole region. Although no one asked him this question, but the politician said the local population highly values Ukraine’s efforts to secure peace and stability in Kosovo. He also said there will always be fresh flowers at the gravestone of the Ukrainian peacemaker.”
