KYIV. Dec 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Foreign interference in Ukraine's 2019 presidential election will be monitored by a team of specialists created by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, the Atlantic Council and the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity.

We are here to talk about the initiative to monitor foreign interference in the upcoming presidential elections in Ukraine ... This is the idea of ​​Viktor Pinchuk, which he told me about last spring, said Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center Director and ex-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst at a press conference at the Kyiv-based Interfax-Ukraine news agency on December 12.

He noted that the Razumkov Center and the organization "STOP Fake" became Ukrainian partners of the project, and also invited other Ukrainian organizations to participate in it.

The Victor Pinchuk Foundation creates and supports platforms that discuss issues, problems and challenges facing Ukraine. And next year’s elections, as we all understand, are no exception. They are one of those issues, Victor Pinchuk Foundation National Programs Director Svitlana Hrytsenko said.

"We hope for your support and help so that the results we will receive can be conveyed to the audience so that it knows about the interventions that will be, if any," she added.

At the same time, team leader and senior researcher at Atlantic Council, David J. Kramer, said the project coordinators met with representatives of the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine, as well as Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council.

He explained that the working group will focus on identifying external intervention, not eliminating it.

The working group will include cybersecurity, misinformation and military security teams.

According to information from materials distributed to journalists, in mid-December, the working group will launch an online information panel, where in real time they will inform about the facts of interference in the Ukrainian elections.

As reported, during the YES 15th annual meeting in Kyiv, the Atlantic Council's Eurasian Center, the Victor Pinchuk Foundation and the Transatlantic Commission on Election Integrity agreed to establish the Working Group on Ukrainian Elections.