Zelenskyy signs law banning Russian propaganda

Olena Roschina – Wednesday, 16 March 2022, 07:36

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a law banning the production and dissemination of information aimed at promoting the actions of the Russian Federation.

Source: Verkhovna Rada website

Details: Verkhovna Rada [Ukrainian Parliament] passed bill no. 5101, concerning the ban on the production and dissemination of information aimed at promoting the actions of the Russian Federation, on 3 March. The President signed it on 14 March. He also amended several other laws.

The new propaganda law prohibits the press, television, and radio from justifying, recognising as legitimate, or denying the Russian Federation’s armed aggression against Ukraine in 2014. This entails, in particular, presenting Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine as an "internal conflict," a "civil conflict," or "civil war," and denying the temporary occupation of parts of Ukraine’s territory.

The law also prohibits the glorification of persons that perpetrated armed aggression against Ukraine on Russia’s behalf in 2014 and of representatives of Armed Forces of the Russian Federation as well as armed militants and groups of mercenaries, in particular by defining them as "insurgents," "militias," and "polite military."

The law also provides for the possibility of terminating the activities of political parties, and religious and public organisations in Ukraine whose goal is to undermine Ukraine’s independence, violate its sovereignty or territorial integrity, change the constitutional order, promote war, or justify Russia’s actions as an aggressor.

This law will enter into force on the day following the day of its publication.