ORIGIN AND FORMATION OF INFORMATION AND MEDIA STRUCTURES OF THE ARMED FORCES OF UKRAINE IN 1991-2014

Abstract

The article considers the process of formation and transformation of public relations structures in a system of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine: press centers in commands of families and types of troops (forces) of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, press services of operational commands, positions of divisional (brigade), as well as the accompanying process of optimizing the number of military printed periodicals in 1991–2014. The main focus is on the study of the source complex of departmental organizational and administrative acts on the activities of public relations structures and documents stored in the personal archives of former employees of the press services of operational commands for the period determined by the chronological framework of scientific intelligence. Most sources were introduced into scientific circulation for the first time. It has been investigated that Ukraine was one of the first countries of the former USSR to create a system of public relations in its own armed forces, which is evidence of the democratic path of development of our state. It is proved that despite the significant reduction in the number of military media and the constant search for the optimal model of information and media support of military construction activities in Ukraine managed to retain highly qualified journalists and further ensure the implementation of assigned tasks. Keywords Armed Forces of Ukraine, mass media, public relations, military press, media, information war, press service.