Ukrainian Security Service says it powerless against website Myrotvorets

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has stated that Ukraine lacks the mechanisms to block the controversial website Myrotvorets.

This is stated in SBU’s response to the inquiry of Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Valeria Lutkovska, Ukrayinski Novyny news agency reports.

“We inform you that currently Ukraine lacks a legislatively defined mechanism for blocking the user access to Internet resources used for posting content,” the response reads.

SBU points out that the National Police is investigating the criminal proceedings over publishing on website Myrotvorets the personal data of media representatives who have been accredited to the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” and the Russian Foreign Ministry.

It is also noted that the Prosecutor’s Office of Kyiv on May 11 entered into the unified register of pre-trial investigations the information about publishing of personal data of journalists on website Myrotvorets, qualifying it as the criminal offence under Part 1 of Article 171 (preclusion of legal professional activities of journalists) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

As reported, May 10, more than 4,000 names of journalists accredited to the so-called “DPR” and “LPR” were posted on website Myrotvorets.

The journalists of the Ukrayinska Pravda, Hromadske Radio, Radio Liberty, The New York Times, Gazeta Wyborcza and other media outlets asked the law enforcement agencies to investigate into publication of the personal data by website Myrotvorets.

The European Union called on the Ukrainian authorities to remove the personal data of accredited journalists, published on website Myrotvorets.

May 16, website Myrotvorets announced its closure. However, it resumed its activities on May 19.

A few days later, the site published personal data of journalists, who had been officially accredited to work in the territory of the Russian Federation, including of four Ukrainian correspondents.