The Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's (OSCE) Representative on Freedom of the Media and the Russian Foreign Ministry will discuss the safety of journalists at the international conference in Moscow next week, the Russian ministry said Saturday, marking the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2019) The Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's (OSCE) Representative on Freedom of the Media and the Russian Foreign Ministry will discuss the safety of journalists at the international conference in Moscow next week, the Russian ministry said Saturday, marking the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists."The issue of the safety of journalists will be the subject of serious expert discussion during the upcoming November 6 international conference on media freedom, held under the auspices of the office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Desir and the Russian Foreign Ministry. Russian war correspondents with unique experiences in conflict zones will be ready to share it with relevant international organizations and their foreign colleagues," the ministry wrote on Facebook.
The conference will be attended by about 200 journalists and representatives from the media and non-governmental organizations as well as international experts, policymakers and representatives of government institutions.
The Russian Foreign Ministry also drew attention, in light of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists, to the fact that Ukrainian armed forces constantly attack Russian reporters.
"The security situation of media workers in Ukraine continues to be of serious concern. They are still subjected to physical violence, including the shelling of Russian correspondents in the south-east of the country by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on a regular basis," the ministry said.
Media in Ukraine are subjected to constant attacks by both the government and extremists of various stripes. The country currently occupies the 102nd place in the Reporters Without Borders' 2019 World Press Freedom Index. Among the most blatant examples was the arrest of MIA Rossiya Segodnya Executive Director Kirill Vyshinsky, who was the head of the RIA Novosti Ukraine portal at the time.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly called on relevant international structures and human rights non-governmental organizations to react more severely to all forms of pressure from the Ukrainian government on the media, including the elimination of journalists undesirable to the Kiev authorities.
