Russian lawmaker asks Council of Europe to assess Ukraine’s restrictions on Russian media

MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/. A senior Russian lawmaker on Tuesday appealed to members of Europe's main human rights and democracy forum to assess actions of Ukraine’s authorities in restricting freedom of Russian media in their country. In a letter to the Committee of Ministers, the executive arm of the 47-nation Council of Europe, Alexei Pushkov, head of the lower house of parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, described in detail violations of Russian journalists’ rights and freedoms in Ukraine. Pushkov pointed to "the list of 49 Russian media representatives banned from entering the country’s territory" which was published by the Ukrainian National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting on August 28 last year. The blacklist included management representatives and journalists working for Channel One, RTR-Planeta, VGTRK, NTV-Mir, TVCI, Rossiya, Rossiya-1, Rossiya-24, NTV, Peterburg 5, REN-TV, Russia Today, TVC, LifeNews, and Zvezda. "On February 17, 2015, the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada [parliament] decided to suspend accreditation for Russian media organisations at governmental bodies," Pushkov recalled in his letter, obtained by TASS. "According to Ukraine's SBU security service, some 115 Russia media outlets were targeted by the restrictions," he said. In his letter, the lawmaker also mentioned the most recent incident on February 25 when three Russian journalists - NTV correspondent Andrey Grigoriev and Channel One journalists Yelena Makarova and Sergei Korenev - "were detained by Kiev’s security forces without giving any explanations and later expelled from the country". He also recalled a statement by SBU chief's adviser Markiyan Lubkovski, who warned on his Facebook page on February 26 that all Ukrainian journalists cooperating with Russian news organisation would be subject to criminal prosecution. Pushkov asked the committee, the Council's decision-making body which brings together the member states' foreign ministers, "to assess the actions of the Ukrainian authorities". He noted that such actions "can be regarded as introduction of censorship in Ukraine’s public life, persecution of people expressing alternative views and a blatant disregard for the right to freedom of opinion and expression". Ukraine’s parliament last month voted to suspend media accreditation for Russian journalists at the country’s governmental bodies. State security officials have listed more than 100 Russian media organisations stripped of rights to send journalists to all official events at Ukrainian ministries and agencies until Kiev’s military operation in the country’s embattled eastern region ends. On March 5, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry announced suspension of accreditation for Russian media to its own events. Russian Foreign Ministry Human Rights Commissioner Konstantin Dolgov said Russia had no plans to restrict professional activities of Ukrainian journalists unless they violated Russian laws. Read more