PECULIARITIES OF THE PROTECTION OF SECRET INFORMATION IN THE UKRAINIAN INSURGENT ARMY IN THE 40S OF THE 20TH CENTURY

Abstract

The contours of the state secret protection system of Ukraine were largely formed during the Soviet era. However, in the process of reforming the public administration system, a lot has been done these days to improve the protection of information with limited access. The normative regulation of the protection of state secrets at the current stage of the development of our country is brought into line with the standards of NATO and EU member countries. In particular, on January 27, 2023, draft law No. 8394 "On the security of classified information" was registered in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. This document is designed to provide the legal and organizational basis for the functioning of the state security system of classified information based on new principles, and in this way to partially get rid of the dominance of Soviet mechanisms in this area. However, in the history of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army in the 40s of the XX century forms of protection of secret information were developed, no worse than the Soviet ones, which became original and effective in the process of struggle for Ukrainian statehood. 

The presented article reveals specific forms and methods of protecting secret information in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Fighting for the Ukrainian state, the rebels, in order to protect themselves from the enemies of the Ukrainian people, developed mechanisms for protecting secret information, which were effective and countered the Soviet totalitarian state. In particular, all the activities of the soldiers of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army were built in the conditions of a conspiracy. Specific forms of checking the loyalty of fighters for an independent Ukrainian state were developed. The members of the insurgent movement formed unique methods of conducting secret records, including the production, transmission, preservation and destruction of secret documents. A special courier service was used to deliver secret information. Pseudonyms, codes, ciphers, and cryptography were used to classify documents. Also, the participants of the movement gave important instructional documents access restrictions, created and stored documents in special protected places – archives. Secret documents were put in milk cans, hidden in hiding places. All these forms and methods of struggle testify to well-organized, unique work in the field of protection of secret information in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army at that time.