Zelenskyy's adviser forbids officials to talk to Ukrainska Pravda journalists
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s communications adviser Dmytro Lytvyn has been covertly "banning" officials from talking to journalists from Ukrainska Pravda.
Source: New people in the old Office. Who does what on Bankova St., an article by Ukrainska Pravda
Quote: "Ukrainska Pravda has discovered that Lytvyn is the individual who has imposed a restriction down the power vertical prohibiting officials and security officials from interacting with Ukrainska Pravda in order to share information or even allow [its journalists] to attend interviews and events.
Lytvyn is the person who has lately been crossing UP off the list of media outlets invited to meetings with the president. He is the one who calls people who ignore these prohibitions and shouts at them."
Details: Lytvyn is a former journalist and political analyst. He knew Zelenskyy back when he was filming Servant of the People (a popular TV show starring Zelenskyy that was made and released in Ukraine before Zelenskyy ran for president – ed.), and he joined the media team at the President’s Office more than a year before the Russian invasion. He was involved in producing "temnyky" for Servant of the People party officials (temnyky, or "theme lists", are directives outlining the issues to be covered in news reports and providing instructions on how these issues are to be highlighted).
When the full-scale Russian invasion began, Lytvyn was the only member of the technical media team who was physically present and could record talking points for the president's speeches.
So he ended up at the presidential bunker, spent the most difficult first few days of the Russian invasion with the president, and departed the bunker as Zelenskyy’s chief speechwriter.
Over time, the main media advisers at the President’s Office, Yurii Kostiuk and Kyrylo Tymoshenko, left the team one by one, and Lytvyn's influence grew.
In early September, the president made Lytvyn his official communications adviser.
There are indications that Lytvyn's actions are criminal under several articles of the Ukrainian Criminal Code: Article 171 (obstruction of journalists' legitimate professional activities), Article 353 (unauthorised appropriation of authority), possibly Article 364 (abuse of power or one’s official position), and Article 344 (interference with the activities of a statesman).
Background: On 9 October, Ukrainska Pravda reported on systemic pressure from the President’s Office: restrictions on spokespeople talking to Ukrainska Pravda journalists and participation in events, as well as pressure on businesses to stop advertising in Ukrainska Pravda.
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