The journalist who reported on censorship directives at ‘Ukrinform’ received a draft notice at work

Yuriy Strygun, a regional correspondent for the state news agency “Ukrinform,” spoke about “temnyky” (censorship directives) within the publication and subsequently received a summons to the territorial recruitment center.

“Yesterday, I had broadcasts on Suspilne, and on several Chernihiv channels, I talked about the ‘temnyky’ in Chernihiv. Today, my workplace called and said: ‘You have received a summons. We will send it to you, please sign to confirm that you have been notified.’ On Monday, June 3, I need to be at the military enlistment office to update my medical records,” the journalist said.

Strygun specified that the summons was sent to the central editorial office of “Ukrinform” in Kyiv, not to his personal address.

“The summons somehow miraculously arrived in Kyiv at the editorial office, which is several hundred kilometers away. The territorial recruitment center is just about one and a half, maybe two kilometers away from me. And in 2021, when I started working at ‘Ukrinform,’ I was there (at the enlistment office). They have all my data: phone, address, email… So, if they wanted to, they could have found me a kilometer away. But they plan to look for me the next day through ‘Ukrinform’ in Kyiv,” the journalist explained.

Earlier, Ukrainian publications reported on the spread of “temnyky” in “Ukrinform” – directives from the authorities on how to cover political events in Ukraine. It was reported that the former general director of the agency, Oleksiy Matsuka, sent lists of recommended speakers and topics to regional editorial offices.

Strygun confirmed the existence of such a list, which journalists were supposed to follow when preparing materials for the agency. According to him, there were “preferred” speakers – people to be approached for comments, and “undesirable” ones.

It is worth noting that earlier, the Obolonskyi territorial recruitment center sent two summonses with different birth dates to the late journalist, chief editor of the magazine “Football,” Artem Frankov.