Opposition Newspapers are Put in Their Place

Last Tuesday at noon, bailiffs turned off the electricity and sealed the switchboards at the editorial office of Kievskie Vedomosti (Kyiv News).

The computer screens fell dark, the faxes were silent, and the staff was told to leave the building.

According to Yevhen Yakunov, Editor-in-Chief, the bosses of a training center from which Kievskie Vedomosti rents three floors have been trying for several years to evict the paper. The point is that the center is subordinated to the Kyiv City Administration, and the paper has published several articles sharply critical of the City Administration Head Oleksandr Omelchenko activities (leaving aside the issue of their objectivity). While the former center director did not manage to evict the very critical paper, current management got down to it with adequate persistence. A catch was found in the six-year-old rental agreement, and the Arbitration Court on October 2 declared it invalid. The editorial board countered that the facts that premises had been repaired with its money (Hr 400,000) and the roof also repaired was not taken into account. However, despite the fact that the High Court of Arbitration has not yet examined the paper’s appeal, the bailiffs arrived into at the editorial office.

Newspaper employees consider all this to be revenge by city authorities for their publications and unwillingness to reach a compromise. Yevhen Yakunov did not reveal where the office equipment, including 200 computers and other machinery, is being moved to. However, The Day learned that it was taken to the Dendi Concern. Answering the question whether a change in ownership was in the offing, Yevhen Yakunov said this is within the competence of the stockholders meeting and Mykhailo Brodsky has no intention to give the paper up.

Vyacheslav Yakubenko, The Day’s correspondent asked Kievskie Vedomosti publisher Mykhailo Brodsky to comment on the situation:

“Viktor Chaika and I just visited ministers Kravchenko, Derkach, and Kulyk. They think everything is going on in accordance to the law. However, it is illegal, because Kievskie Vedomosti has filed an appeal. It is clear that this is a political contract, and those carrying it out are the same. Now we will need few days to find another premises and to move there. Then we will resume publication.