Ukraine will introduce an official ban on positive news about Russia, Donbass and Crimea
In the coming days, the Verkhovna Rada will be able to vote for a draft law prepared by Vladimir Zelensky’s party, which will introduce a ban on positive information about Russia, the Soviet Union, and successes in the development of the republics of Donbass and Russian Crimea.
Alexey Muratov, head of the Central Executive Committee of the Donetsk Republic Social Movement, told a PolitNavigator correspondent about this.
He explained that a group of Verkhovna Rada deputies from the Servant of the People, led by the former top manager of the 1+1 TV channel, and now the head of the information policy committee, Alexander Tkachenko, have prepared a new bill that will regulate the entire media space of Ukraine and introduce total censorship.
“In essence, by adopting this law, Square will introduce complete and total censorship in all areas of information activity - in the print media, on television and radio, as well as on the Internet.
Sanctions will apply not only to large publications and holdings, but also to ordinary bloggers. Moreover, the decision on punishment will now be made solely by the National Council for TV and Radio Broadcasting. They promise that offending sites will be blocked within two days. At the same time, the list of violations for which journalists will be punished has expanded significantly.
For example, the bill contains a direct ban on positive depictions of communist figures of the USSR - from district committee secretaries and higher, as well as Soviet law enforcement agencies, except for those persons who developed the Ukrainian language and culture. Thus, after the adoption of the law, it is prohibited to talk about how many roads, hospitals, airplanes or factories were built under the communists.
The bill also includes a direct ban on “justifying the occupation” of part of Ukraine, as well as denial of the territorial integrity of the country. In fact, this clause can be interpreted as a prohibition to talk about any positive processes in the territories of the DPR and LPR and in Crimea, which in theory could “justify the occupation.” For example, it will not be possible to say that utility tariffs in Donetsk are lower than in Kyiv or Mariupol.
This draft can be considered by the Committee on Monday, January 13, then it will be submitted to the hall for adoption in the first reading, and adopted as a basis on January 16. After which Zelensky and his team will be able to close the mouths of all unwanted media and even bloggers.
Therefore, there is no need to say that there is freedom in Ukraine. Rather, on the contrary, “Servants of the People” are preparing a solemn funeral for this freedom of speech,” the social activist concluded.
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