Ukraine's presidential adviser, Dmytro Lytvyn, called Ukrainska Pravda's allegations of pressure from the Presidential Office "an incorrect story" in an interview with Liga.net published on Oct. 15.
Lytvyn's reaction came after almost a week of silence after Ukrainska Pravda, one of Ukraine's leading newspapers, claimed that the Ukrainian government is exerting "systematic pressure" against the outlet.
In a statement published on Oct. 9, the newspaper said that officials are being ordered not to communicate with Ukrainska Pravda journalists, who are also being denied access to official events. The outlet further claimed that businesses are being pressured to cease advertising on the outlet's website and not sponsor the events Ukrainska Pravda organizes.
In a follow-up article published the next day, Ukrainska Pravda said, without disclosing its sources, that one of the leading figures of this campaign is Lytvyn, who has been President Volodymyr Zelensky's speechwriter and was appointed his advisor in September.
When asked about the allegations, Lytvyn said that he did not have his own version of events.
"It is impossible to make any effective refutation in this story. When you say that you are not doing something, who will believe it? If so many people say the opposite," Lytvyn said.
"This story is very incorrect. They say something abstract, and you have to refute it as if it were something concrete," he added.
Lytvyn claimed that Ukrainska Pravda had never asked him for comment or questions in almost three years.
In a comment to Liga.net, Ukrainska Pravda journalist Roman Romaniuk said the publication had sent a request to the Presidential Office regarding a heated interaction between their journalist Roman Kravets and Zelensky during a recent press conference.
Since this request was ignored, Ukrainska Pravda did not reach out to the Presidential Office again before publishing the article about government pressure, said Romaniuk, the author of the piece.
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) indicated in June 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.
Nate Ostiller
(Updated: )
