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Russia envoy demands OSCE response to Ukraine's prosecution of Crimean journalists

Ukrainian prosecutor’s office launched a criminal case against journalists from Crimea after their visit to the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw

VIENNA, September 20. /TASS/. Russia calls on the OSCE representative on freedom of the media and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to give an assessment of Ukraine’s criminal prosecution of Crimean civil society activists for taking part in an OSCE conference in Warsaw, Russian Permanent Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Alexander Lukashevich said on Friday.

"We condemn Ukraine for launching criminal prosecution against Crimean journalists for visiting HDIM2019. We urge the OSCE representative on freedom of the media & OSCE ODIHR to give principled assessment of Kiev's attempts to oppress Crimeans for exercising freedom of speech and contacts with international organizations," he wrote on the Russian mission’s Twitter account.

It was reported on September 19 that the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office launched a criminal case against journalists from Crimea after their visit to the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw. According to earlier reports, the Ukrainian delegation and delegates from the United States and Canada tried to strip Maria Volkonskaya, editor-in-chief of the Krymskaya Gazeta newspaper, of the right to speak on September 16 and 17. The moderator declined these requests in both cases, letting the Russian journalist to speak.