Ukraine / Europe & Central Asia

  
Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko, who was reported killed in the Ukrainian capital on May 29, 2018, speaks during a Ukrainian state security service press briefing in Kiev on May 30, 2018, where authorities announced the staging of his assassination. (Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko)

UPDATE: Russian journalist Babchenko’s assassination was staged

New York, May 30, 2018– Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko, who had been reported shot and killed in the Ukrainian capital yesterday, has appeared alive at a televised news conference in Kiev. Vasily Gritsak, head of the Ukrainian Security Service, said the agency faked Babchenko’s death to catch those who were trying to kill him. “We…

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A portrait of the director of RIA Novosti-Ukraine's Kiev office director, Kirill Vyshynsky, on a monitor during a news briefing at the headquarter of the Ukrainian State Security Service in Kiev, Ukraine on May 15, 2018. On May 15, 2018, Ukrainian state security agents searched RIA Novosti-Ukraine's Kiev office and detained Vyshynsky, accusing the agency of being used in an

Ukraine extends ban on Russian news agencies, journalists

New York, May 24, 2018–Ukrainian authorities today published a presidential decree that extends for three years sanctions imposed in 2017 against Russian state-funded news outlets and their journalists, as well as other foreign entities and individuals, and added the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti-Ukraine to the sanctions list, according to media reports.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin gives an interview at a May 15, 2018, ceremony opening a bridge that will connect the Russian mainland with the Crimean Peninsula. Ukraine authorities accused the director of Russian state news agency RIA Novosti's Kiev office of propaganda supporting the annexing of Crimea. (Sputnik/Alexei Druzhinin/Kremlin via Reuters)

Ukraine authorities search Russian news agency, detain director

New York, May 15, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today expressed concern over the Ukraine Security Service’s (SBU) search of the Kiev office of the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti and detention of the office director, Kirill Vyshynsky.

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People visit an art installation of Easter eggs, in Kiev, Ukraine on April 10, 2018. Vladislav Pleshakov, a journalist from the privately owned television channel 1+1, was assaulted in an upscale neighborhood near Kiev on April 21, 2018, while filming for an investigative report, according to reports. (AP/Efrem Lukatsky)

In Ukraine, journalists harassed, 1 attacked while filming investigative report

Vladislav Pleshakov, a journalist from the privately owned television channel 1+1, was assaulted in an upscale neighborhood near Kiev on April 21, 2018, while filming for an investigative report about real estate allegedly owned by Ukraine’s finance minister, Oleksandr Danyliuk, according to the Kiev-based media monitoring organization Detector Media, which cites 1+1’s press service.

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A journalist films before a presidential press conference in Kiev on February 28, 2018. A Kiev prosecutor is refusing to return the passport of Turan TV's correspondent Fikret Huseynli. (AFP/Sergei Supinsky)

Prosecutor in Ukraine flouts court, refuses to return journalist’s passport

New York, April 4, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Ukrainian prosecutors to return the passport of Fikret Huseynli, a Dutch national of Azerbaijani origin, and to respect a district court’s April 2 ruling that the journalist should not be extradited to Azerbaijan or have his movements restricted.

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A snow-covered street in central Kiev, Ukraine in March 2018. Ukrainian authorities confiscated journalist Fikret Huseynli's travel documents as he was attempting to fly out of Kiev in October 2017. (Reuters/Gleb Garanich)

Journalist faces extradition from Ukraine to Azerbaijan, fears for his safety

New York, March 8, 2018–Ukrainian authorities should allow Fikret Huseynli (Huseinli), a journalist of Azerbaijani origin and a Dutch national, to leave the country safely, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Unknown assailants on March 5 attacked Huseynli, a correspondent for the independent online television channel Turan, at an apartment building he was renting…

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Police detain protesters while the National Guard removes a camp near the parliament building in Kiev on March 3. At least two journalists were injured while covering the unrest. (Reuters/Gleb Garanich)

In Ukraine, at least two journalists injured at Kiev protest

New York, March 5, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists today called on Ukrainian authorities to investigate claims that police attacked journalists covering a protest in Kiev, and to ensure the safety of the press. At least two journalists were injured in Kiev on March 3 when police dispersed a protest camp outside parliament, where activists…

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Local news website in Ukraine torched, server attacked

New York, February 23, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned last night’s arson attack on the independent, investigative news website Chetverta Vlada (Fourth Power) in Ukraine’s western city of Rivne.

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People cross a road during a heavy snowfall in Kiev, Ukraine in January 2018. Journalists at Media Holding Vesti remain blocked from their newsroom in central Kiev one week after dozens of law enforcement agents raided the office, editor-in-chief Oksana Omelchenko told CPJ. (Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko)

Week after raid, office of Ukraine’s Vesti remains blocked

Kiev, February 15, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists urges Ukrainian authorities to ensure that journalists at Media Holding Vesti are able to access their office and continue their work without fear of retaliation. Journalists at Media Holding Vesti remain blocked from their newsroom in central Kiev one week after dozens of law enforcement agents raided…

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Workers remove snow during a heavy snowfall in Kiev, Ukraine in December 2017. Ukrainian law enforcement raided the Kiev offices of Media Holding Vesti, which includes Radio Vesti, the daily newspaper Vesti, and the news website Vesti-ukr on February 8, 2018. (Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko)

Ukrainian law enforcement raid Vesti offices in Kiev

Kiev, February 9, 2018–The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns a Ukrainian law enforcement raid at the Kiev offices of Media Holding Vesti, which includes Radio Vesti, the daily newspaper Vesti, and the news website Vesti-ukr. More than a dozen masked officers ripped open doors with crowbars, seized property, and fired tear gas in the offices…

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