Russian Foreign Ministry Calls On Human Rights Watchdogs To Press Kiev Over Vyshinsky Case

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Wednesday urged international human rights watchdogs to respond more harshly to the situation with RIA Novosti Ukraine web portal head Kirill Vyshinsky, who remains in custody in Ukraine

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd January, 2019) Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Wednesday urged international human rights watchdogs to respond more harshly to the situation with RIA Novosti Ukraine web portal head Kirill Vyshinsky, who remains in custody in Ukraine.

"We once again draw the international human rights community's attention to the fact that the journalist continues to be illegally held by the repressive Kiev regime for carrying out his professional duties. We call on the relevant international structures for a tougher reaction to the explicit reprisal committed by official Kiev against a media employee it does not want," she said during a briefing in Moscow.

Zakharova reiterated the demand that Ukraine immediately release Vyshinsky.

The journalist was detained in Kiev in May 2018, on suspicion of supporting the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics and treason.

He has been held in custody ever since. Earlier in January, the journalist's defense team appealed a Ukrainian court's decision to keep Vyshinsky in custody until February 16.

According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Vyshinsky's arrest is politically motivated and demonstrates Ukraine's unacceptable policy of targeting journalists who are just doing their jobs.

Representative on Freedom of the Media of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Harlem Desir has also expressed concern over Ukraine's actions and called for the journalist's release, stressing that all OSCE members had pledged to create the necessary conditions to allow journalists to work freely.