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MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/. 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, Alexey Pushkov, head of the lower house of parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, described in detail violations of Russian journalists’ rights and freedoms in Ukraine.
These 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", Pushkov wrote in the letter, obtained by TASS.
Ukraine’s parliament on February 12 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.