The decision of the Council on the freezing in Ukraine Russian websites and social networks may restrict the access of Ukrainians to information and free expression of views and convictions, the Director of the Ukrainian representative office of the international pravozashchitnoj organization Freedom House Matthew Schaaf, reports ZN.ua.
“We are concerned about the decision that Ukraine might block access to the media resources, websites and the media. This can lead to restriction of access to information, debate political and social issues of citizens in a pluralistic media field,” said Schaaf.
The Director noted that he sees no reason for the decision of the Ukrainian authorities of blocking access, particularly to “Yandex” and Mail.ru. “At a time when the Ukrainian government says one thing, and citizens usually say the other should have free access to all opinions and positions. So everyone can draw their own conclusions,” said Schaaf.
Recall President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko signed a decree enacted the decision of the Council of 28 April 2017 “On the use of personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions)”. The updated list of the entities to which penalties shall be imposed, made, in particular, OOO “Yandex”, LTD “Mail.RU Ukraine” and LLC “Vkontakte”.
