Ukrainian Regulator Says It Won't Extend Licence Of Broadcaster 112 Ukraine

KYIV --The Ukrainian National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting says it won't extend the broadcasting license of the television channel 112 Ukraine.

The council said on September 26 that it took the decision because of "the television channel's failure to fix violations of the broadcast concept since 2014."

The channel's director, Yehor Benkendorf, said 112 Ukraine will continue operating, while another station official, Artem Marchevskiy, said the company "will inform international structures about this lawlessness" by the authorities.

The president's office issued a statement regarding the move, saying that it was monitoring the situation.

"We are confident that freedom of speech is an integral part of a democratic state. At the same time, all broadcasters must comply with the law and license conditions," the president's office wrote on Facebook.

In October 2018, Ukrainian lawmakers adopted a resolution proposing that the National Security and Defense Council impose sanctions on the owners of the 112 Ukraine and NewsOne TV channels.

The resolution was adopted after more than 25,000 citizens signed a petition demanding the two broadcasters halt their activities, accusing them of "being tools of Russian propaganda in Ukraine."

The two countries’ relations have been tense since 2014 after Russian annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and began supporting pro-Kremlin separatists in Ukraine's east in a conflict where more than 13,000 people have been killed.