[Peace-discuss] President Petro Poroshenko demanded the sweep against those considered to represent a threat to "national security."

[David Johnson]

President Petro Poroshenko demanded the sweep against those considered to
represent a threat to "national security."

 

 

 

Ukraine has expanded its list of sanctioned journalists and organizations
that are now banned from the country and that are now referred to as
"terrorists."

 

President Petro Poroshenko demanded the sweep against those considered to
represent a threat to "national security" after pro-Russian rebels announced
plans to hold elections in October and November in areas that they control.

 

RELATED: Who Governs Ukraine?    

 

Some 900 individuals have now found a place on Ukraine's blacklist. Among
those banned are Russians and separatists, but also 34 journalists from
European countries like Spain, Germany and the United Kingdom, allegedly for
contact they might have had with rebels during the independence referendum
and subsequent vote to join Russia of Crimea.

 

But after international outcry from the media, Poroshenko has asked for a
reprieve for six reporters, including BBC workers.

 

"Freedom of the press is of absolute value to me," spokesperson Svyatoslav
Tsegolko quoted Poroshenko as saying in a post on Twitter.

 

Johannes Hahn, the European Union's commissioner in charge of enlargement
criticized the move as un-European, threatening Ukraine's attempt to join
the body.

"I am surprised and I am concerned and I will certainly discuss it with the
colleagues in Ukraine because this is not European in spirit," he said in
Brussels.

 

The fresh bans came in response to the upcoming elections, which Ukraine
considers illegal.

 

"This adventurism and irresponsible decision requires our exact, coordinated
reaction to the threat that has been created to the Minsk (peace)
agreements," he said at the time.

 

Why did Crimea declare independence from Ukraine?   

 

After World War II, Crimea remained within Russian territory, but in 1954,
Nikita Krushev handed its administration over to Ukraine, which in 1991
declared its independence from the Soviet Union - dissolved that same year

 

The majority of Crimea's population speaks Russian. When Yanukovich was
ousted, the new government took over with the intention of completely
separating the country from Russia, a country historically linked to Crimea.

 

Parting from this event, Crimeans fought to maintain their links to Russia,
and its rejection to the de facto government - which later legitimized
itself through elections along with members of the Pravi Sector, a radical
right-wing group linked to Nazism.

 

Crimea is geographically strategic because of its passage to the Black Sea.
Its territory is 26,100 square meters and it has two million inhabitants. 

 

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