The Institute of Mass Information (IMI) has recorded 276 cases of violations of freedom of speech and journalists' rights in Ukraine in 2017.

The most violations in 2017 were recorded in the obstruction of the lawful professional activity of journalists - 89 cases, the press service of the IMI reported on Thursday.

At the same time, it is noted that this indicator in 2017 fell slightly compared to previous years (108 cases in 2016, 100 cases in 2015, 150 cases in 2014, 130 cases of obstruction in 2013).

"Most of all, journalists were prevented by private individuals, local authorities and law enforcers," a message reads.

The second place in terms of violation of freedom of speech was occupied by the category "restrictions on access to public information" - 41 cases.

The third place was taken by threats against media representatives - 37 cases. Attacks and beatings of journalists rank fourth - 29 cases.

The fifth place in the number of violations was taken by cyber attacks - 15 cases (11 cases in 2016, 17 cases in 2015).

At the same time, in 2016, 264 cases of violation of freedom of speech were recorded, in 2015 there were 310 cases, in 2014 - 995 cases.

In 2017, the regions, where there were more violations (except the occupied territories), as in 2016, are Kyiv and Kyiv region (79 cases), Volyn (24 cases), Mykolaiv (20 cases), Poltava (18 cases) and Odesa (15 cases) regions.

"In the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, IMI managed to record only three cases (12 cases of violations of freedom of speech in 2016)," the message reads.

So, in 2017, the blogger and author of the project Radio Liberty Radio Donbas.Realii Stanyslav Aseyev, who wrote for the Ukrainian media, disappeared in occupied Donetsk. In addition, during 2017 blogger Edward Nedelyaev was in the captivity of the so-called 'LPR' and has been recently released.

In Crimea in 2017, there were 16 cases of violations of freedom of speech, which is almost twice less than in 2016 (31 cases), there were 43 cases in 2015.

"Reducing the number of recorded violations does not mean their absence, but speaks about the limitation of access to the peninsula and control by the Russian authorities over the information space. In addition, it should be borne in mind that a large number of editorial offices traveled away from Crimea because of the inability to work there and in connection with pressure of the pro-Russian occupation power," the expert from the IMI Kateryna Dyachuk said.