Kiev Authorities and Policies 'First Enemies' of Press Freedom

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree on Wednesday sanctioning 90 entities and barring almost 400 people from entering Ukraine for one year. Over 40 journalists and bloggers from the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Switzerland, Poland, Israel, Latvia and Russia, were targeted by the restrictions.

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Alexander Mosesov — Ukraine's decision to ban foreign journalists from entering the country is "absurd" and violates the rights of the press, the deputy general secretary of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) told Sputnik on Thursday.

"The rights of the press are directly attacked and endangered, this is an absurd decision. It can be truly noted that the authorities and the policy of Ukraine are the first enemies of the rights of press," Anthony Bellanger said.

He added that such restrictive measures had created a very negative impression of Ukraine's actual policy.

According to Bellanger, the IFJ intends to ask the Ukrainian government to repeal the decision.

The sanctions imposed against members of the media were condemned earlier in the day by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Kremlin and the Committee to Protect Journalists.