The European Parliament will not make concessions to Ukraine as long as there is a suppression of freedom of speech in the country. Member of European Parliament Maximilian Krah stated this on Twitter when commenting on the illegal closure of 112 Ukraine, NewsOne, and ZIK TV channel.
“President Zelensky, freedom is always the freedom of those with other views. Your suppression of a news outlet because it doesn’t hail you is incompatible with democratic standards. There won’t be concessions towards Ukraine as long as you suppress free media!” the message says.
President @ZelenskyyUa, freedom is always the freedom of those with other views. Your suppression of a news outlet because it doesn’t hail you is incompatible with democratic standards. There wont be concessions towards #Ukraine as long as you suppress free media! https://t.co/OFhVFkbXpG
— Dr. Maximilian Krah MdEP (@KrahMax) February 3, 2021
On February 2, Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on sanctions against 112 Ukraine, NewsOne, and ZiK TV channels. By this decree, he enforced the decision of the National Security and Defense Council on sanctions on the cancellation of the broadcasting licenses of the TV channels belonging to Taras Kozak (112 Ukraine, NewsOne, ZIK). According to the decree that is eligible since the moment of signature, the TV channels faced sanctions that will be active for five years. These sanctions make the broadcasting process impossible.
The media holding, in its turn, sees the imposition of sanctions as a political crackdown on undesirable media.
