Open Address of Ukrainian Media to the European Commission

To the President of the European Commission, 

Mrs Ursula von der Leyen, 

And to the Vice President of the European Commission, 

Mrs Věra Jourová 

We express our deep respect and appeal to you on behalf of all Ukrainian journalists, the media  community, creative industry representatives, and the whole invincible Ukrainian nation. The world  will forever remember the date of February 24, 2022 — the morning when the Russian army brutally  and violently invaded peaceful Ukraine. Today, Putin's regime is destroying Ukrainian towns with  missiles and bombs, killing thousands of people, depriving small children of their lives, causing  humanitarian crises, holding cities hostage, and leading to a nuclear catastrophe, which can harm the  whole world. And all of the above mentioned is happening in the 21st century in the very heart of  Europe.  

Apart from the unfolding war on our country’s territory, Russia has been waging information warfare  for years. Today, Putin's propaganda machine is operating at its peak capacity, using the most cynical  manipulations, obvious lies, and disinformation on a massive scale. This can be proved by a significant  amount of evidence, and if necessary, we are ready to consolidate the information and present it to  you. 

Russian TV channels are justifying the Russian war against Ukraine in their multiple news stories,  they are withholding the truth about the real scale of the military actions and their own losses, they  are discrediting Ukrainian authorities and international partners, undermining with such actions  democratic values and principles and questioning freedom of speech as the basis of European values,  and also generating an enormous amount of fake news, thus deceiving their audience not only in the Russian Federation, but also in the EU countries and in the United States of America. Moreover,  Russians living both in the Russian Federation and abroad focus on the information spread by the  Russian media, which in fact deprives them of access to unbiased information or at least an alternative  point of view.  

The crucial step towards reducing the influence of Russian propaganda based on the language of  hostility and misinformation was made by turning off the broadcast of RT and Sputnik TV channels on  the territory of Western and Eastern Europe, as well as in the western part of the Russian Federation.  However, the influence of other channels, such as RT News, RTR Planeta, Rossiya 24, NTV Mir,  Soyuz, 8 Kanal International, Pobeda International, 1 Kanal Europa, RT France, which are controlled  by the aggressor state and are still broadcasting via European satellites, is also detrimental to  informational security of the whole world, since the editorial policy of such channels is completely  controlled by the state, which is why these media are used as mouthpieces of Russian propaganda.  At the same time, not all European companies are ready to break off cooperation with their Russian  business partners in terms of distribution of these Russian propagandistic media, as almost the entire civilized world is doing right now.  

In this regard, we kindly ask you to take the following actions:  

• Impose sanctions on all Russian TV channels which are broadcasting by satellites or any other  technology, and ban their distribution on the EU territory;
• Instead of Russian TV channels, recommend providers to broadcast Ukrainian TV, which has  been currently broadcasting the “United News“ marathon, also available in English (the  attached file includes technical parameters). The international community must have  uninterrupted access to unbiased and truthful information on events in Ukraine.  

We count on your support and believe in the glorious future of Ukraine, which will determine the future  of the whole world. 

Best regards, 

Yaroslav Pakholchuk, CEO of 1+1 Media 

Oleksandr Bohutsky, CEO of Starlight Media, Head of News Division 

Yevheniy Bondarenko, Director of Media Group Ukraine 

Hanna Bezliudna, Head of Inter Media Group 

Olha Herasymiuk, Head of National Television and Radio broadcasting Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko, Minister of Culture and Information Policy 

Mykola Chernotytsky, Chairman of Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine, JSC Natalya Ligacheva, NGO “Detector Media” 

Sergiy Popov, Head of TSN News (Television News Services) on 1+1 TV channel Yuliya Zhmakina, Head of the Breakfast with 1+1, the Life of Famous People, the Your Day, the  Your Evening TV projects 

Svitlana Paniushkina, Head of TSN.ua news website 

Mykhailo Gannytskyi, Editor-in-chief of UNIAN information agency 

Ulyana Kondratenko, Head of Hlavred news website 

Detailed information on the signatories who will join the open letter will be stored at this link.