The second President of Ukraine (1994-2005) Leonid Kuchma has said that at present the government is so strong that the mass media are coming under its influence.
“Look at all information issues. And there is a definite answer. At present the government has such a power that everybody is following this power,” he told reporters in Kharkiv on Friday, when asked to comment on the current state of freedom of speech, and compare it with the situation one or two years ago.
Kuchma also said that the notion of drawing up a list of topics that journalists have to cover was created by European political experts for Ukraine.
In addition, Kuchma called the murder of journalist Gongadze a provocation organized “not just by Ukrainians.”
At the same time he noted it is not true that some reporters were persecuted or some publication closed.
