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Russia urges OSCE to take control of media freedom situation in Ukraine

The diplomat described the situation with freedom of speech in the country as critical

VIENNA, July 20. /TASS/. The Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) should keep the situation with media freedoms in Ukraine under constant supervision, a Russian diplomat has said.

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"We urge the SMM to assume permanent control over matters of freedom of speech, rights of journalists and citizens’ access to information," Russia’s deputy OSCE envoy, Dmitry Balakin, told the organization’s Permanent Council in Vienna on Thursday.

The diplomat described the situation with freedom of speech in the country as critical.

"Kiev has been silencing the voices of those who try to broadcast the objective picture, which the Ukrainian authorities find inconvenient," the said.

The official citied the case of arrested RIA Novosti Ukraine chief editor Kirill Vyshinsky and entry bans for journalists Yevgeny Primakov, Paula Slier, John Warren and others as examples of media freedom violations.

"On May 18, Ukrainian servicemen once again opened fire at Russian journalists in Donbass. As a result, VGTRK journalist Pavel Vydrin and audio engineer Igor Uklein were injured. Broadcasts of Russian news agencies Rossiya Segodnya and RIA Novosti Ukraine were suspended for three years," the deputy envoy went on.

He added that radicals put pressure on other journalists, including with the help of the notorious Mirotvorets website. The web page publishes personal data of journalists, who are out of favor with the current government.

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