You're reading: Yanukovych: Lack of freedom of speech in Ukraine a mistaken stereotype

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said that claims that there is a lack of freedom of speech in Ukraine are a mistaken stereotype. 

“One of the obstacles to the development of the media in Ukraine is the mistaken stereotype regarding the lack of freedom of speech in our country. I think this is connected with the lack of trustworthy information about the real situation,” the president said, while opening the 64th World Newspaper Congress and the 19th World Editors Forum in Kyiv on Monday.

The president added that Ukraine, despite its Soviet past, has managed to achieve progress in the development of the freedom of speech.

“Without exaggerations, Ukraine has passed the way from totalitarian censorship towards an open society,” the president said.

“The key task in the media sphere should be the creation of conditions in which a free press could develop effectively, independent from controls,” Yanukovych added.

The president said there are no forbidden topics for the media in Ukraine.

He said Ukraine is working on improving the mechanism of access to public information. According to Yanukovych, thanks to the law on access to public information, state agencies have replied to more than 33,000 requests for information.

He added that the only problem is the fact that law enforcement agencies do not always responsd quickly to journalists’ requests.

The president called on journalists to respect professional ethics and the principles of objectiveness.

“I think the development of freedom of speech is two-way traffic, which requires that efforts be made by journalists. First of all, I mean the necessity to fight dirty political technologies that are used by some dishonest politicians in the media,” Yanukovych said.

The head of state also said that the government would create favorable economic conditions on the printing market soon.

In addition, the president said the government is finishing work on the creation of public television in Ukraine, and added that work on a relevant bill is coming to an end.

Yanukovych also said that the government is ready to carry out his order and amend the law on the norms of providing the population with outlets for retail sale of the periodical press.

“It is planned to allocate premises for the opening of outlets for retail sales of the periodical press,” he said.

While the president was delivering the speech, ten people, some of whom wore T-shirts reading “Stop censorship,” stood up with posters reading in Ukrainian and English “The authorities want to arrest defamation,” “The authorities are tapping journalists’ phones,” “Voters are being isolated from criticism against the authorities,” “Media oligarchs are serving the authorities.”

Some of the protesters chanted “Stop censorship!”