The Presidential Office has remained silent for two days over allegations that the Ukrainian government is exerting "systematic pressure" against Ukrainska Pravda.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) issued a statement on Oct. 11 calling for Kyiv to stop "obstructing the reporting" of Ukrainska Pravda, one of Ukraine's leading newspapers.
CPJ's appeal follows a similar statement from Ukrainska Pravda on Oct. 9, in which the media outlet accused the Presidential Office of conducting "ongoing and systematic pressure" in an attempt to "influence our editorial policy."
"Ukrainska Pravda has paid a steep price for a quarter-century of rigorous reporting," said Gulnoza Said, CPJ's Europe and Central Asia program coordinator.
The alleged attempts to pressure the media outlet are "nothing short of anti-democratic given the essential role of the newsroom in upholding a core national value of freedom of the press."
"Ukrainian authorities must never discourage investigative journalistic work, whether during periods of peace or war," Said concluded.
CPJ, a U.S.-based NGO that works to promote press freedom and defend journalists, said that the Presidential Office had not yet responded to a request for comment. The Kyiv Independent has also reached out for comment but has not received an answer.
Ukraine's independent media has taken great strides since the EuroMaidan Revolution in 2014, but concerns have been raised since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in June indicated the "shrinking" of press freedom in Ukraine, highlighting a "worrying decline" in support and respect for media autonomy and increased pressure from the state or other political actors inside Ukraine. The statement came one month after the annual press freedom index published by RSF showed Ukraine rising compared to last year.
As the Kyiv Independent reported in July, media still face different forms of pressure from authorities, according to Ukrainian editors and press freedom watchdogs, months after attacks on investigative journalists provoked a public outcry and condemnation.
"We have often encountered pressure in our work. But the last time we faced such economic restrictions was during the presidency of (Leonid) Kuchma," Sevgil Musayeva, editor-in-chief of Ukrainska Pravda, told the Kyiv Independent on Oct. 9, referring to Ukraine's president from 1994-2005.
Since being founded in 2000, two journalists from Ukrainska Pravda have been killed — co-founder Georgiy Gongadze, and top editor Pavel Sheremet.
Gongadze, who was critical of then-President Kuchma, was kidnapped on Sept. 16, 2000. Two months later, his headless body was found in a forest some 70 kilometers outside Kyiv.
Belarusian-born Sheremet was blown up in his car in central Kyiv on July 20, 2016.
Musayeva stressed the importance of making public the pressure Ukrainska Pravda is facing and called on international audiences to take note.
"Ukraine must remain a democracy, and freedom of speech is one of the most important values in a free society," she said.
The Kyiv Independent
