"I am following the news on accreditation. I feel concerned that Russian public is now deprived of objective and trustworthy direct information from Ukrainian governmental offices, that definitely does not help free flow of information and reestablishing trust among peoples. I am also looking into information as to which Russian media are deprived of accreditation rights vis-a-vis Ukrainian authorities and the reasoning behind it. I hope that act by the parliament would not further further misbalance truthful reporting from Kiev for the benefit of Russian audience. I understand national security concerns of a nation at war, but would still like to remind all OSCE participating States to observe commitments adopted 40 years ago at Helsinki," Mijatovic told RIA Novosti.
Earlier Saturday, Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) recommended to strip 115 Russian news outlets of accreditation in governmental institutions. Earlier the same day, a source in the SBU told RIA Novosti that the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency and all Russian television channels apart from Dozhd were to lose accreditation.
Russian Foreign Ministry human rights ombudsman Konstantin Dolgov told RIA Novosti that Kiev's move is 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.
Earlier Saturday, the Kremlin stated that it will discuss the inadmissibility of limiting Russian media in Ukraine with Kiev.
