The council said in a statement that it was deeply concerned with the situation around Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko, as his involvement in staging his own assassination and misleading public opinion "casts a shadow over the entire journalistic community, undermines the credibility of the media."
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"In connection with the extreme concern over these facts, the Human Rights Council has requested Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe Dunja Mijatovic and OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Desir to use their opportunities to influence the Ukrainian authorities in order to normalize the conditions for work of media in the country country," the statement read.
In August 2017, the Russian Foreign Ministry called on the OSCE and the Council of Europe member states, as well as international organizations, to condemn Kiev's policy against the media. There are already dozens of cases of harassment of journalists in Ukraine.
Kiev has been repeatedly restricting the work of the Russian media in the country, including regularly denying Russian journalists entry to Ukraine.
