"An unusually undemocratic president": Russia reacted to Ukraine's sanctions against a number of companies and the media

Moscow criticized the decision of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to block access in the country to several information resources and a number of portals of Russian companies. Thus, Sergei Tsekov, a member of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, commenting on the introduction of a new package of sanctions against the media, linked Kiev's actions with an attempt to restrict Ukrainians' access to objective information.

“An extremely undemocratic president.

In words he speaks about democracy, about freedom of speech, but in practice he fights against it in every possible way.

The Ukrainian authorities, in principle, are blocking all mass media.

Why is this done?

So that people in Ukraine do not know the truth about what is happening in Crimea, in Russia.

Zelensky is terrified of this truth, because it could deprive him of his chances of being re-elected for a second term, "Tsekov said in an interview with RT.

“What is most striking is that these“ luminaries of democracy ”in the person of the European Union do not pay attention to this,” the senator added.

In turn, the deputy of the State Duma from Crimea Ruslan Balbek also stressed that the current authorities of Ukraine are fighting against those who express a different point of view.

“Any non-government media in Ukraine has been transferred to the caste of outcasts. Zelenskiy has created not just a division of the media, he is systematically destroying the very concept of "freedom of speech". He is satisfied with only one version of the press - manual, this is what all his decrees on blocking and banning publications not under his control are connected with. Of course, his Western partners do not see what is happening at close range, they are satisfied with everything, because this is a fight against "Russian influence." The main thing is that the Ukrainian president does not encroach on the freedom of Western media - then he will quickly be taught a lesson who is the boss in Ukraine, ”the interlocutor of RT explained.

Earlier, the text of the decree was published on the website of the office of the President of Ukraine, which puts into effect the decision of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) to block access to a number of web resources. It follows from the document that the sites of Rostelecom (in particular, the online cinema Wink), the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper, the Versiya newspaper, the Business News Media company, which owns Vedomosti, the ANNA news agency, fell under Kiev's sanctions. News, the portals Narodnye Novosti, Zavtra, PolitExpert, LugaNews, as well as the TRK-3 joint stock company (Vesti Sevastopol), the Historical Perspective Research Foundation and the Mutual Assistance Association for Charitable Assistance.

As part of this package of restrictions, access to two web resources is also blocked, which, according to Kiev, are associated with the head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Denis Pushilin.

The decree says that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine must inform the competent authorities of the European Union, the United States and other states about the application of sanctions, asking them to introduce similar restrictive measures.

Commenting on Zelensky's decision, the editor-in-chief of Moskovsky Komsomolets, head of the Moscow Union of Journalists, Pavel Gusev, told Interfax that the Ukrainian edition of the publication will continue to work: “This will not affect the publication in any way.

We have an audience, and then modern Internet methods make it possible, if necessary, to bypass the restrictions.

Our Ukrainian editorial office will continue to work until we see any problems for this ”.

Gusev did not rule out that the company's lawyers could appeal against the blocking decision, and added that the editorial office is ready to send a printed version of the newspaper to the Ukrainian president if he does not want to read it electronically.

The press service of Rostelecom responded to Zelensky's decision in the following way: "These actions will not affect the company's activities, since we have no subscribers in this country."

At the end of June, Vladimir Zelensky extended for three years the sanctions against the TV channels Russia 24, RTR-Planeta, NTV, JSC Channel One.

World Wide Web ".

In addition, the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada, Andriy Derkach, who in 2020 released audio recordings that allegedly featured the votes of the former President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko and Joe Biden, fell under the restrictions.

In January 2021, the US Treasury Department put him on the sanctions list for allegedly "interfering" in the American presidential elections.

In addition to the Russian media, the Ukrainian authorities are also conducting a systematic struggle with local media structures.

So, on August 21, the editors of the Strana.UA online edition announced that they were blocking access to their portal in the country.

The decision was made in connection with the sanctions against the editor-in-chief Igor Guzhva.

“The site was blocked last night by lawlessness - there was no presidential decree yet, and the providers have already received a command to block it.

According to our sources in the President's Office, it was Zelensky's personal order to close access to the "Strana" as quickly as possible, - the publication's Telegram channel reported.

Within the framework of the same block of sanctions, restrictions were introduced against blogger Anatoly Shariy and his wife Olga.

On August 19, it was reported that the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine intends to through the court to obtain the annulment of the license of the NASH TV channel.

The reason is the statements of the former deputy of the Verkhovna Rada, Petro Symonenko, about the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and Donbass, which, according to the regulator, “incited religious and national hatred”.

Let us remind you that in February in Ukraine the work of three large TV channels - "112 Ukraine", ZIK and NEWSONE, was blocked.

According to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, these media resources contained entire "information armies" that allegedly misled the Ukrainian population on various issues, including utility tariffs and the war in Donbass.