Sanctions against Medvedchuk’s TV channels. The first estimates

Sanctions have been imposed against Kozak and some related to him legal entities. What was the exact reason to include the TV channels to the list, we still don’t know it with an absolute certainty.

They may have been funded through some coal supply schemes from the occupied territories that help finance terrorism. ZN spoke about it. I would like to hear more explanations on motivation from government agencies.

The information policy of these TV channels is the promotion of Kremlin disinformation, the total harsh PR of the OPFL party, pseudo-experts and manipulation. This has been repeatedly said by media experts, and the National Council has also drawn attention to this (although we would like the regulator acted more vigourously).

Let me also remind you of the well-known censorship case, when two years ago, the arrival of Medvedchuk, more than 300 (!) employees resigned from ZIK TV channel.

At the same time, Ukraine, as a democratic state which is governed by the rule of law, must strictly adhere to the requirements of international law and the Constitution of Ukraine. Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 34 of the Constitution require that any State interference with freedom of expression shall be carried out on the basis of law, in order to achieve a legitimate aim and be commensurate with the what is required in a democratic society.

We do not deny that the decision of the National Security and Defense Council is based on proper grounds and complies with the provisions of Articles 3 and 5 of the Law of Ukraine "On Sanctions". But we still lack the information to give a legal assessment of the situation. We hope that Ukraine has taken all appropriate steps to comply with Article 10 of the Convention, taking into account the case law of the ECHR, and to comply with Ukrainian law.