PACE Recognizes Halting Russian Propaganda Broadcasting As Legitimate Defense: Comment From Kravchuk
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) today, September 30, adopted the resolution “Growing threats to media pluralism and the independence of the media.” The document was supported by 106 votes in favor. It primarily addresses one of the key problems for European democracies: how to preserve independent and diverse media amid political and economic pressure, media ownership concentration, and the growing influence of online platforms. Member of the Ukrainian delegation to PACE, Ukrainian MP Yevheniia Kravchuk, reported this.
In an exclusive comment to FREEДOM correspondent Oleh Borysov, she said a significant part of the resolution concerns Russia’s crimes against Ukrainian media and journalists, as well as countering Russian propaganda.
“A fairly large section of this document is devoted to Russia’s crimes against Ukraine, against Ukrainian journalists. The resolution also clearly states that shutting down Kremlin propaganda channels is an entirely justified defense measure by all criteria and by all standards of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). So sanctions against Russian propagandists are justified, and PACE has confirmed this,” Kravchuk said.
She noted that at least 26 Ukrainian journalists remain illegally imprisoned by Russia, mostly on fabricated charges and in conditions amounting to torture and mistreatment.
“In my remarks I mentioned Iryna Levchenko, a journalist from Melitopol, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison for ‘espionage.’ In this resolution we also record that there must be accountability for all these crimes the Russian Federation is committing against media workers,” Kravchuk noted.
The resolution separately mentions Viktoriia Roshchyna, who was tortured to death in Russian captivity. PACE demands the immediate and unconditional release of all Ukrainian journalists and full accountability for crimes against them.
Yevheniia Kravchuk also added that tomorrow, October 1, special hearings with the participation of President Petra Bayr will take place at PACE as part of the Victory for Victoria Day commemorative event.
“We’ll be talking about war correspondents, about how they cover the truth about Russia’s war against Ukraine,” the MP summarized.
Read also: Russia Strikes Media: Ukrainian Delegation Seeks To Draw PACE’s Attention To The Situation In The Country
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30 of September 2026
