KIEV, June 24. /ITAR-TASS/. The Verkhovna Rada Committee on Information and Freedom of Speech has recommended that the Ukrainian parliament should adopt a resolution suspending the accreditation of Russian journalists and Russian technical media staff with state institutions in Ukraine. A source from the Ukrainian committee reported this to ITAR-TASS on Tuesday.
The proposed step “aims to uphold national security of Ukraine, prevent informational threats and defend the rights of citizens to information,” the committee members said when the bill was discussed.
The parliamentary committee referred to a recent lawsuit, filed by the National Council on problems of television and radio broadcasts with the Kiev district administrative court, demanding to recognize "the activity of foreign television channels – Channel One Global Network, RTR Planeta, Rossiya-24 and NTV-Mir as not conforming to the Ukrainian laws and the European Convention on Trans- Frontier television" and consequently, asking to suspend the re-translation of programs by the above-mentioned television channels on the territory of Ukraine.
June 18, the Verkhovna Rada turned down a draft resolution which suspended the accreditation of workers of the Russian mass media at the Ukrainian bodies of power. The bill drew 187 Rada votes in its support, which proved short of the necessary 226 votes needed to a pass a bill.
Speaker Oleksandr Turchynov declared that the parliament would discuss the bill once again later.