GENEVA, April 11, /ITAR-TASS/. Moscow will ask the UN Human Rights Council to look into Ukraine’s attitude to Russian journalists, Russia’s permanent representative at the UN office and other international organizations in Geneva, Aleksei Borodavkin, told ITAR-TASS on Thursday.
“As Russia’s representative at the Human Rights Council I can say that Ukraine’s refusal to let Russian journalists enter its territory is a clear violation of the freedom of mass media. We shall raise the issue at the HRC to point out that such actions are utterly impermissible.”
“This opinion of ours is shared by many international human rights mechanisms and non-governmental organizations, which have already expressed their attitude, for instance the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, Borodavkin said.
On Wednesday this non-governmental organization urged the Ukrainian authorities “to ensure that all journalists, foreign and domestic, be able to report freely and without obstruction on the unfolding events in Ukraine."
“Regrettably, Ukraine’s refusal to let Russian journalists in is not the sole act of abuse,” Borodavkin said. “Those journalists whose coverage of the situation in the country is not to the liking of the current authorities in Kiev are vulnerable to threats and sometimes the use of force. All this is impermissible.”
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on Thursday said that more than 20 Russian journalists had been denied permission to enter Ukraine for performing their professional duties. Over the past day alone another four journalists representing leading Russian mass media were barred from entering Ukraine.