US State Department concerned about oppression of media in Crimea

Official Washington is concerned about the closure of the Crimean Tatars media in Crimea and limiting the Russian-speaking segment.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Marie Harf said this during a daily briefing in Washington on Wednesday.

"In Russia occupied Crimea, de facto authorities have shut down 11 of the 12 Crimean Tatar media outlets, including ATR TV - the last independent television station serving the Crimean Tatar population," Harf said.

According to her, the occupation authorities also have banned most Ukrainian language programming, replacing content with Russian programming.

These restrictions on media freedom are "only a part of a worsening situation that demonstrates Russia's disregard for the population of Crimea," she said.

"The occupation authorities are systematically closing the space for freedom of expression and leading an intimidation campaign that targets independent journalists for detention and prosecution," Harf said.

She said the United States "condemns Russia's abuses and call for the end of its occupation of Crimea, which is part of Ukraine."

Marie Harf made this statement on the Crimean media within Free the Press campaign launched by the U.S. State Department earlier this week. The aim of the campaign is to draw attention of the international community to violations of media freedom in the world and to help journalists and the media to resist pressure from the government, which seeks to hide the inconvenient truth.

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