Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine, said on February 5 that sanctions would be imposed against a number of Verkhovna Rada deputies in the near future.
On the air of the Ukraine TV channel, he expressed confidence that in the near future the Ukrainian authorities will continue to impose restrictions on certain categories of individuals and legal entities.
“Moreover, I can say with confidence that there will be a number of deputies who are sitting in the Verkhovna Rada today. We have more than enough arguments to do this, ”Danilov stressed.
According to him, since 2017, about 1228 Ukrainians are under sanctions of their own state.
On February 2, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy put into effect the NSDC decision on restrictions against the TV and radio company 112 Ukraine, its regional channels Ariadna TV, TV Vybor, New Format, Partner TV and Leader TV, as well as company “News 24 Hours” (NewsOne TV channel). The next day, TV channels 112 Ukraine, NewsOne and ZIK stopped broadcasting and lost their domains.
Zelensky explained his decision by the fact that Kiev is fighting “propaganda”. In turn, the journalists called what was happening the elimination of unwanted media and promised to continue their activities.
Martha Hurtado, the spokeswoman for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, noted that sanctions against a number of TV channels could affect freedom of speech in Ukraine. According to her, the UN will study what happened.
On February 4, the Opposition Platform – For Life party adopted a resolution to start impeachment proceedings against Zelenskiy in connection with the blocking of Ukrainian TV channels.