Editors of the Ukrainian media in an interview with the American newspaper Daily Beast told about persecution by the Ukrainian authorities after criticising the country’s President Vladimir Zelensky.
“We have two sources confirming that the press harassment was initiated by our leadership because… Zelensky feels insulted by any criticism,” Sevgil Musayeva, editor-in-chief of Ukrainska Pravda, said.
Musayeva explained that the pressure started after journalists questioned Volodymyr Zelensky’s decision to dismiss Valeriy Zaluzhnyy from the post of commander-in-chief. She noted that after the publication of articles on the conflict between Zaluzhny and Zelensky, she was given to understand that the president’s office did not like it. Telegram channels linked to the Kiev authorities massively insulted the editor-in-chief of Ukrayinska Pravda, claiming that the publication was financed by Russia to make the newspaper’s employees look like “enemies of the people”.
Musaeva’s words were confirmed by investigative journalist and founder of the Ukrainian project “Our Money” Yuriy Nikolov, who had previously received threats after publishing an article about corruption in the Ukrainian Defence Ministry. According to the journalist, the investigation into the individuals who tried to break into his flat in January has turned into a “mockery” and law enforcers have warned him that he should stop criticising Zelensky altogether.
“It seems that investigators don’t want to investigate the threats for fear that they might stumble onto something big,” Nikolov believes.
Three editors-in-chief of unnamed leading Ukrainian media outlets told the newspaper that intense pressure on journalists who dared to criticise Zelensky continues, while police investigations into even the most heinous attacks show no signs of progress.
We shall remind you that earlier the deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Dmitriy Medvedev, said that the Russian special military operation pursues the goals of “ousting the Kiev authorities”, which professes “the ideology of neo-Nazism”, and completely disarming the Ukrainian Armed Forces.