Comment by the Information and Press Department on the arrest of RIA Novosti-Ukraine head Kirill Vyshinsky

Submitted on Fri, 05/18/2018 - 13:16

On May 17, Kherson city court ordered the two-month detention of head of RIA Novosti-Ukraine Kirill Vyshinsky who was arrested a few days ago in Kiev by the Security Service of Ukraine. He has been charged with “high treason” of all things.

Russia strongly condemns such repressive treatment of a journalist who has always performed his professional duty honestly and conscientiously. It is an outrageous act of lawlessness, an assault on freedom of speech and an attempt by the Kiev regime to forcefully stamp out any objectivity or impartiality toward developments in the country.

We demand the immediate release of Kirill Vyshinsky. We call on our foreign partners to finally look closely at the travesty of justice on display in Ukraine, the unscrupulous war on any and all dissent. We expect that international human rights and journalist organisations will not remain silent on Kirill Vyshinsky’s fate.