MOSCOW, June 26. /TASS/. Ukraine’s refusal to allow journalist Yevgeny Primakov to enter the country marked a new stage in Kiev’s attitude towards freedom of speech, showing that the country’s authorities place themselves above the OSCE, Chairman of Russia’s State Duma (lower house) Committee on Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications Leonid Levin said on Tuesday.
"Issuing a denial of entry into Ukraine to Chairman of the Russian Civic Chamber’s Commission on the Development of the Information Community, Media and Mass Communications Yevgeny Primakov who was heading for an official OSCE event in Kiev, marks a new stage in relations between the Ukrainian authorities and freedom of speech," the lawmaker’s press service quotes him as saying.
The politician noted that while in the past reporters who had covered developments in Ukraine faced persecution and restrictions, now that country’s authorities have decided to meddle with the OSCE’s work "believing that they know better than the organization’s top officials who should attend the conference titled "Strengthening Freedom of Media and pluralism in Ukraine during conflicts in and around the country."
"By denying Yevgeny Primakov entry to Ukraine for five years without notice, the Ukrainian authorities not only showed irrational fear of a well-known Russian public figure and journalist. They also demonstrated that they place themselves above the OSCE and are interested in neither consensus on security issues nor strengthening media freedom, for which the world’s largest regional international organization is responsible," Levin concluded.
On June 26, Russian TV personality Yevgeny Primakov said that Ukrainian authorities denied him entry into the country for five years. According to Primakov, he was told "he posed a threat to Ukraine’s security", while no specific reason for refusal was provided. The journalist added he planned to take part in the OSCE expert conference on media freedom.