MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th February, 2021) Kirill Vyshinsky, Rossiya Segodnya news agency's executive director, on Monday commented on the state of journalism in Ukraine by saying that Kiev may as well ban the entire profession, in a swipe at the recent clampdown on opposition media outlets in the country.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) launched a probe against reporter Alena Berezovskaya after she asked Viktor Medvedchuk, the head of the political council of Ukraine's Opposition Platform � For Life party, during an interview with RT whether it would be better and easier for Ukraine to join Russia. The reporter told Sputnik that Kiev could open a criminal case over the issue.
"If Ukraine opens criminal cases only because journalists ask questions, which is the essence of their profession, then it would be easier to ban this profession as such. If they start [to persecute] for questions, then you will not guess further whether you asked the right person or not, the right question or the wrong one," Vyshinsky, who himself spent time in a Ukrainian jail for his journalistic work, told Sputnik.
The executive director recalled that he published a list of 12 Ukrainian journalists who were currently under criminal prosecution.
Media workers in Ukraine are subjected to constant attacks by both the government and extremists of various stripes. The country ranks 96th in the Reporters Without Borders' 2020 World Press Freedom Index.
Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a decree putting into effect the country's security council's decision to impose sanctions for five years against 112 Ukraine, NewsOne and ZIK broadcasters, and Taras Kozak, a lawmaker from the Opposition Platform � For Life party, who owns the channels.
