The state Department urged Kiev not to undermine freedom of speech
Thus, according to the official representative of the Ministry, “no doubt” that the Russian media allegedly tried to hinder the work of the Western media by spreading “false information”.
WASHINGTON, may 18. /Offset. TASS Anatoly Bochinin/. The Ukrainian authorities should find a way to protect the interests of the country without undermining the constitutional principle of freedom of speech. On Wednesday TASS said the U.S. state Department spokesman when asked to comment on Kiev’s decision to block a number of Russian websites and social networks.
According to the representative of the state Department, “no doubt” that the Russian media allegedly tried to hinder the work of the Western media by spreading “false information”, “including, and Ukraine” where Moscow “uses other means to exert an extremely negative influence on the work of the government in Kiev.”
“Despite this, freedom of speech is a key element of any healthy democracy and it is enshrined in the Ukrainian Constitution. We urge the Ukrainian government to find a way to protect their national interests without undermining constitutional principles,” the diplomat summed up.
May 16, was published the decree of the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko on the extension of economic sanctions against Russians and Russian companies. Updated the sanctions list included a number of Russian media and IT-companies, developers of antivirus software “Kaspersky Lab” and Dr. Web. In addition, the ban came Mail.ru Group and included in it the social network “Vkontakte” and “Classmates” as well as “Yandex” and all its services.
According to Kiev, Russian social networks were allegedly used for “illegal collection of information, propaganda, recruitment agents, as well as the spread of pirated content.” Ukrainian providers have begun to block these resources.