Termination of Russian newspaper’s activities negatively impacts access to information and media pluralism, asserts OSCE Media Freedom Representative

VIENNA, 4 February 2019 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, today expressed his concern regarding a court verdict to terminate the activity of the newspaper Novye Kolesa Igorya Rudnikova in Kaliningrad.

On 1 February the Kaliningrad Regional Court, upon the request of the local branch of the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media of Kaliningrad region (Roskomnadzor), a governmental watchdog, ruled to terminate the activity of the newspaper following two warnings issued by the same authority.   

“This decision, along with other negative developments around the newspaper in recent years, has a negative impact on media pluralism and access to information and I hope it will be reversed on appeal,” stated Désir. “Any restrictive sanctions imposed on the media should be strictly necessary and proportionate to the actual harm caused, and the case law should take note of the freedom of the media in line with international standards and OSCE commitments.”

Earlier, in April 2018 the Representative also expressed his concern about the seizure of copies of the Novye Kolesa Igorya Rudnikova newspaper and vendors’ refusal to distribute it following the arrest of its editor Igor Rudnikov, who continues to serve a pre-trial detention since November 2017 (see: https://twitter.com/OSCE_RFoM/status/982191136373587969  and https://www.osce.org/representative-on-freedom-of-media/402110). Reportedly, the publishing house has also declined to print the newspaper since April of last year.