Search at the Vesti office: 3 days before the elections, punitive forces took on unwanted journalists
Kyiv, May 22 (Navigator, Kirill Boyarin, Artyom Buzila, Mikhail Ryabov) – Today’s search in the office of the editorial offices of the opposition newspaper “Vesti” and the magazine “Reporter” in Kyiv is a real punitive operation against unwanted journalists. It is significant that the Maidan leaders decided on it three days before their scheduled election of a new president. The attack on the inconvenient press is another argument in favor of the dubious legitimacy of the elections, according to experts interviewed.
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The financing of Vesti and Reporter in Kyiv has long been associated with Russia, from where the head of the holding, Igor Guzhva, returned not so long ago before the launch of the project. The publications also attributed the godfather of the Russian President Viktor Medvedchuk. Several times, Ukrainian patriots even carried out special actions calling for a boycott of the enemy’s “combat leaflet” (not realizing that, in doing so, they were only working for the popularity of the newspaper they hated).
However, three days before the elections, for some reason the new Ukrainian authorities needed to launch a frontal attack on Vesti. The search, as explained to citizens, is being carried out as part of an investigation into the abuses of the fugitive oligarch Sergei Kurchenko, close to Viktor Yanukovych’s “Family”. It turned out that it was Kurchenko, and not the Kremlin, who sponsored the newspaper and magazine that was harmful to the current authorities.
And here the behavior of the journalistic community in Kyiv is indicative. Many of those who “fought censorship” during Yanukovych’s time welcomed the current search, justifying it by the need to fight the Anti-Maidan propaganda organ.
“There is a war going on, including a civil media war. In any war, the enemy is either destroyed or captured,” comments political scientist Semyon Uralov.
“Forget about what democracy is, this is a real terrorist dictatorship. Forget about the fact that there is freedom of speech - there is only censorship and the nationalist mainstream. Forget that there are journalists, there are only propagandists. Forget that there is a parliamentary committee on freedom of speech headed by Tomenko - over the past month, not a single media complaint received by us has been considered,” laments “regionalist” Elena Bondarenko. (However, she should remember her own statements two years ago, when Bondarenko, in order to fight the “unprofitable gas contract,” declared her readiness to unite with Svoboda).
“This is another nail in the coffin of freedom of speech, which once existed in Ukraine. We all understand that the persecution of Vesti is another link in the campaign of harassment of independent media, which began during the days of Euromaidan and became absolute after its victory. Yanukovych was called the “strangler of freedom of speech,” but if he allowed himself even a hundredth of what the current government is doing in relation to the media, he would already be persona non grata in all Western powers,” notes political scientist Vladimir Kornilov .
“Such actions indicate that there is no freedom of speech and press in Ukraine. Of course, a fairly strict information dictatorship is being established in the country, the purpose of which is to prevent any dissent. I only associate such actions with this,” says Communist Verkhovna Rada deputy Alexander Golub.
“On the pages of the publication you can express your opinion or describe events without looking back at the current government. Since it is impossible to change the opinion of the editors and journalists using civilized methods - enter into dialogue, refute, etc. – the current government has clearly decided to simply shut their mouths. In the old and proven way - by setting up checks and seizing accounts and assets. Moreover, a standard “raider entry into the facility” was organized in the form of a “mask show” - without presenting any documents, unknown persons simply seized the editorial office. And what kind of freedom of speech are we talking about? What democratic achievements? In my memory, similar situations occurred only with the pro-BYuT newspaper “Evening Vesti”. But even then, all legal procedures were followed. And in the situation with Vesti, we can observe complete chaos. As they say - “myzdobuls” ...,” reflects Zakhar Chistyakov, head of the PRiZ agency, which specializes in hostile takeovers.
Experts note that the attack on Vesti and Reporter is another extremely alarming signal on the eve of the announced voting day for the presidential election.
“I think this is another alarming signal not only against the backdrop of the upcoming elections, but in general against the backdrop of all life in Ukraine,” says sociologist Yevgeny Kopatko.
He notes the unprecedented level of violence in this election campaign, which seriously complicates its conduct. “Everyone saw the vandalism of advertising posters. But what is being done in relation to presidential candidates has never happened in the entire history of presidential elections in this country. Previously, there were threats at worst,” the sociologist recalls.
“Those who are trying to hold “legitimate elections” are cutting off all opportunities for any criticism or even objective information about the election campaign. Many deputies are now deprived of the opportunity to publish, which, in fact, violates the Constitution and the election law. I believe that this situation is built into the overall system in order to block objective coverage of the elections,” admits political scientist Alexander Bulavin.
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