On Thursday, May 6, Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna Yevhen Tsymbaliuk during the OSCE Permanent Council recalled the situation in the occupied Crimea with freedom of the media. He stressed that civilian and freelance journalists continue to be harassed, citing the example of Radio Liberty freelancer Vladyslav Yosypenko.
“On May 3, we celebrated World Press Freedom Day, which serves as a reminder of the difficult situation in this area in Crimea. The Russian occupation administration squeezed out all Ukrainian media from the peninsula, be it television, radio or print media. Civilian and freelance journalists continue to be persecuted”,- he said.
Tsymbaliuk drew attention to the case of Vladyslav Yosypenko and called on the Russian Federation to immediately release him and other political prisoners. In addition, he noted the situation with the editor-in-chief of the Qırım newspaper, the outlet that was fined for citing the report of the UN Secretary General, which mentions the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people.
“We again call on the Russian Federation to abandon the illegal occupation of Crimea, the militarization of the Black and Azov Seas and end aggression against Ukraine, including by withdrawing its armed formations, mercenaries and their equipment from the temporarily occupied territories”,- he added.