10:23 30.05.2016

Kyiv lifts sanctions from 29 foreign journalists

3 min read
Kyiv lifts sanctions from 29 foreign journalists

The sanctions that were introduced in September 2015 against a number of Russian and other foreign journalists were revoked by a National Security and Defense Council resolution on May 20, as being confirmed by presidential decree No. 224/2016 on Friday.

The sanctions were lifted from 29 individuals, according to a copy of the resolution, published on the presidential portal.

Among them are the Israeli journalist Nata Potemkina; Max Laurier, editor-in-chief of the Israeli information agency Cursor; and Alexander Ronkin, editor-in-chief of the Israeli weekly Ekho and the general director and co-owner Ronkino Media Ltd.

Also excluded from the list are the journalists from the Russian daily Vesti Segodnya (Latvia): Vladimirs Bucelnikovs, Eduards Eldarovs, Nikolajs Kabanovs (also a member of Latvian Saeima) and Erika Rugalska.

The sanctions were also lifted on Gyoni Gabor, editor of the Hungarian oroszvilag.hu portal; Szeles Gabor, a Hungarian businessman and owner of the Echo-TV company and the Hungarian Magyar Hirlap newspaper; and the Echo TV host Szaniszló Ferenc (International Panorama).

Other names dropped from the list include Pavel Gavrilov, a Moldovan journalist, one of the moderators of the 57.md website and one of "Moldova's information resistance" leaders; Pavel Grigorciuc, editor-in-chief of the website of the Grenada youth wing of the Party of Communists of Moldova (www.grenada.com.md); and Andrei Safonov, a Moldovan blogger and journalist.

The sanctions were also lifted on two Slovak bloggers, Sergej Chelemendik and Veronica Paucikova; Swiss blogger Oksana David-Dudina; journalist Cezar Vidal from the Spanish newspaper La Razon; journalists Marianna Tarasenko and Andrey Babin from the Estonian weekly Den Za Dnem; journalists Dragan Janjatov and Hristo Ivanovski from the Macedonian newspaper Dnevnik; journalist Slobodan Samardzija (Russian citizen) from the Serbian newspaper Politika; and journalist Elena Yoncheva from the Bulgarian TV7 channel.

Also excluded from the list are Olga Kovalenko, general director and editor-in-chief of the Novosti-Kazakhstan News Agency (in cooperation with RIA-Novosti); Yelena Palazhchenko, a RIA-Novosti News Agency representative in Turkey and member of the Russian Culture Association in Ankara; and Jakub Korejba (Poland), a journalist, commentator, Russia Today News Agency. The sanctions were also lifted on Andrei Surzhansky, a correspondent, and Andrei Sitov, director, of the Washington bureau of the ITAR-TASS news agency; and Alexander Nechayev, a correspondent at the ITAR-TASS news agency's South African bureau.

It was reported that the same presidential decree enacted the NSDC resolution imposing sanctions against 17 Russian media representatives, mainly owners, general directors and editors-in-chief of newspapers, news agencies and television channels.

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