ATR was forced off air on Tuesday night after Russia effectively refused to re-register this unique television channel and other Crimean Tatar media. Hundreds gathered outside the studio, many obviously distressed. The police were present, openly videoing the crowd and 8 people are due in court after being detained making a video in support of ATR

With less than one day remaining before TV channel ATR and other Crimean Tatar media are likely to be silenced in Russian-occupied Crimea, two Crimean Tatar leaders have been warned of the consequences of ‘unauthorized’ demonstrations in defence of the channel.

Any lingering hopes that Ukraine’s SBU really did have grounds for arresting controversial blogger Ruslan Kotsaba were dashed on Monday when the indictment was made public. There need to be serious grounds for accusing a person of state treason, a charge carrying a sentence of 12-15 years imprisonment. There appear to be none.

The overt attempt to crush the only Crimean Tatar TV channel ATR has been aptly described as “shooting the soul of the Crimean Tatar people”, however Russia’s success in destroying these media will provide a very dangerous message and have serious repercussions beyond any particular group in Crimea

Two vital – and independent – media resources face closure in Russian-occupied Crimea. The Crimean News Agency QHA has been openly refused registration, and it is extremely likely that TV ATR, the only Crimean Tatar television channel in the world, will be forced off air from April 1

Dmytro Labutkin, military journalist for the Sevastopol TV channel ‘Breeze’ who moved with his family to Odessa after Russia’s invasion of Crimea, was killed in Debaltseve. Kremlin-backed militants had taken pleasure in waving his documents around but his family and friends had hoped that he had been captured

Crimea’s Russian-installed leader Sergei Aksyonov has openly stated that those who – in his words – ‘incite conflict’ and give people hope that Russia’s occupation will end will not be able to work in Crimea. Meanwhile Ukraine’s Information Policy Minister has promised that TV ATR, the Crimean Tatar channel particularly under attack, will be able to broadcast from mainland Ukraine

TV ATR, the only Crimean Tatar television channel in the world, will probably be forced to stop broadcasting from April 1. Since the head of the Russian-installed government recently attacked ATR and other “hostile forces” who give hope that Crimea will be returned to Ukraine, it is clear that this is part of a major offensive against freedom of speech and against the Crimean Tatar people

The Russian occupation authorities have launched a new offensive, this time against journalists from the Centre for Investigative Journalism, possibly following an article about Crimeans fighting in Donbas and their hope for Crimea’s return to Ukraine

Facebook did it again on Wednesday and blocked a vital source of information about pro-Russian propaganda, hate speech and Internet troll activity in Polish, especially material supporting Russian aggression in Ukraine. 

There had been outcry from media representatives about the "legally illiterate" draft bill tabled recently which was seriously proposing to defend ‘the authority of the country’ by criminalizing criticism.

The near closure of an important Polish initiative countering pro-Russian propaganda this week should serve as a salutary lesson, not least for Facebook, whose complaints system proved unprepared for a well-coordinated attempt to remove a social network resource exposing inconvenient truths

Try defining ‘the ideology of terrorism’, and it should be clear why there are real grounds for concern over new measures to counter such ideology that have been announced in Russian-occupied Crimea. Only the coating is new, since the essence is Soviet and aimed at crushing dissent

Andriy Zakharchuk, the Ukrainian journalist charged most controversially with ‘state treason’ over his work for Russian media has been freed in exchange for Ukrainian prisoners of war held by Kremlin-backed militants in Donbas. While the release of 139 Ukrainian soldiers was wonderful news, Zakharchuk’s inclusion in the deal is not only questionable, but also an unfortunate propaganda coup for Russia

Russia’s media regulator has turned down independent QHA Crimean News Agency’s application for a licence. This comes just days after Russian-installed ‘prime minister’ Sergei Aksyonov made it clear that ‘hostile’ media who talk of a return to Ukrainian control, etc. have no place in annexed Crimea

The Ivano-Frankivsk regional court of appeal on Feb 14 upheld a ruling which has provoked serious criticism from human rights organizations, including Amnesty International

In the last week two Ukrainian journalists have been detained on suspicion of committing ‘state treason’, with the latest arrest and detention of Andrei Zakharchuk a particularly ominous development.

The dissolution of this much discredited body is to be welcomed however it can be questioned whether this is enough to bring Ukraine into line with other European countries while the vague and unforeseeable provisions of the law on protection of public morality remain in force.

A court in Ivano-Frankivsk has remanded controversial blogger Ruslan Kotsaba in custody for 2 months. While journalists are among those condemning Kotsaba’s public pronouncements and actions, his detention and the charges against him – of treason and of obstructing the work of the armed forces - have met with criticism

With Russia spending huge amounts of money and resources on virulent propaganda, claims of a ‘fascist junta’ in Ukraine committing atrocities, etc., Ukraine’s parliament has imposed a blanket ban which is likely to prove contentious