Nikolayev oblast publishing house refused to print the all-Ukrainian newspaper “Ukrainskiy Pivden”

The Ukrainian-language oppositional newspaper of the Rukh supported the bloc “Our Ukraine”. In particular, the newspaper criticized the oblast administration. The formal reason of the refusal was the little run of the edition – 5000 copies.

This was an original present from the local power to the 10^th anniversary of “Ukrainskiy Pivden”: the first issue of the newspaper had been published on 12 November 1993.

(“Nasha Ukraina”, 18 November 2003; razom.org.ua)

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“It is even ridiculous to speak about the freedom of speech in the Nikolayev oblast”, declared Yuri Didenko, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Ukrainskiy Pivden”, to the IMI correspondent in the course of the conversation concerning the refusal of the Nikolayev oblast publishing house to cooperate with his edition. We want to remind that on 15 November the publishing house refused to print “Ukrainskiy Pivden”, which endorsed the interests of the bloc “Our Ukraine”.

The editor-in-chief tried to find other opportunities for printing the newspaper, but not a single oblast publishing house agreed to cooperate with the edition, which criticized the local power.

(The Institute of mass information, 19 November 2003, www.imi.org.ua)