Moscow to Raise Issue of Ukraine Blacklist of Russian Media

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Moscow will discuss with Kiev the inadmissibility of limiting Russian media in Ukraine on various levels, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Saturday.

Earlier in the day, a source in the Ukraine's Security Service told RIA Novosti that the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency and all Russian television channels apart from Dozhd were to lose accreditation in Ukrainian governmental institutions.

"Naturally, the question of inadmissibility of such steps will be raised on various levels," Peskov told RIA Novosti.

According to Peskov, Moscow believes that Kiev's move to limit Russian media does not comply with principles of a democratic society.

Earlier Saturday, Russian Foreign Ministry human rights ombudsman Konstantin Dolgov told RIA Novosti that Kiev's move was an act of information warfare that violated international norms and freedoms of speech. Dolgov called on the international community to appropriately respond to Kiev's decision to limit Russia media.

Kiev signed a document suspending accreditation of Russian journalists at Ukrainian government agencies earlier this week.

An SBU source told RIA Novosti on Saturday that over 100 Russian media were to be deprived of accreditation.

Since the start of military confrontation between Kiev forces and independence supporters in last April, press freedom in Ukraine has been repeatedly violated, according to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).