In Poltava, at session of city council, journalists had their access to mayor's and council members' seats restricted

On January 22, in Poltava, journalists of local mass media were not admitted to the part of the room where the seats of city mayor and council members are located. This was reported to IMI by the journalist of online media outlet “Kolo” Andriy Ivanov.

According to the journalist, the person who was restricting journalists' free movement was head of the citizens' addresses department of Poltava city executive committee, Ihor Veryha. The journalist assumes that it was due to lack of competence and knowledge that he was doing this. The situation is even more surprising taking into account that less than a month ago, on December 25, journalists were allowed to freely sit next to the mayor for convenience of their work. 

The conflict situation was resolved only after the journalists informed Veryha about criminal responsibility for impeding the work of journalists, and threatened to call police.