Donetsk editor: 'Printing house refused to print us'

The Socialist Party of Ukraine's parliamentary candidate, Eugene Talyshev, in Donetsk's single-seat constituency 42, told reporters this week that the limited liability company Printing House Donechchina has refused to publish the newspaper, The Island, where he works as editor-in-chief. Talyshev said that he'd called the owner of the printing house on Oct. 23 to discuss the refusal, but that she wouldn't reverse her decision.

Responding to Talyshev's accusation, the director of Printing House Donechchina, Olga Papush, stated that Talyshev puts her business reputation at risk with his political statements, and that that was the reason she had ended their business relationship, News of Donbassreported.

In an article titled "Election Terror in Donetsk", published on ostro.org, Talyshev accused Papush's business of being dishonest and lying about broken printing presses so that she wouldn't have to print The Island. In a statement released this week, Papush said this was not true. Her business, she added was also accused of inflating its rates for printing newspapers.

"We see no possibility of further cooperation with this newspaper, because on their website, they accuse us of inflating rates. But that's not true. For 10 years, we have printed [The Island] and we always gave [Talyshev] the newspaper on time, and without damage," Papush said.

In her opinion, Talyshev has used the situation to his political advantage.

"Certainly, Talyshev uses us in his political struggle ... We will not have a monopoly on the printing market in order to prevent him from publishing. We never interfere in politics, we have no right to. But how we can work with the person who says we lie?" Papush added.

However, Talysh states that "failure to comply with terms of the contract is only valid in rare cases, such as earthquakes, fires, explosions, unexpected actions of the government... as well as war."

"Since the printing press did not burn and there were no floods which could prevent printing... it is possible to come to the conclusion that the power is against [the words printed in The Island]," Talyshev said in a statement.

If Talyshev is able to find a new printing press, it's likely that his enemies will stop at nothing to prevent the opposition newspaper from falling into the hands of readers. And if there will be a Party of Regions victory in the elections, which is very likely to be the case, there's chance the paper may cease printing all together.

"It is not known whether The Island will be printed in the future at all," the paper's publisher said in a statement.