On April 15, the Interim Commission of Inquiry to investigate information on compliance with legislative requirements during the change of owners of news channels and ensure counteraction to information influence of the Russian Federation, submitted to the Verkhovna Rada the materials concerning TV channels 112 Ukraine, ZIK and NewsOne, which belong to a close associate of Viktor Medvedchuk Taras Kozak.

About this MP, TSC member Alexander Tkachenko wrote on his Facebook page.

“They held the last meeting of the Provisional Commission of Inquiry into compliance with the legislation while changing the owners of several news channels that now belong to one person – the right hand of Medvedchuk, MP Taras Kozak. It’s about 112, ZIK and NewsOne , “he said.

Mr Tkachenko said that Taras Kozak and the heads of these channels had never appeared at the commission meeting. Despite this, members of the TSC heard reports from law enforcement, met with former owner Andriy Podshchykov and a number of other events.

The People’s Deputy specified that the report will be published after its hearing in the Verkhovna Rada.

” I hope that our achievements will be another step towards establishing full transparency of the ownership structure of Ukrainian TV channels and will not allow monopolization of information in the interests of certain political forces ,” he added.

As the DM wrote, on October 17, 2019, the Verkhovna Rada set up a temporary commission of inquiry to investigate information on compliance with the requirements of the legislation during the change of owners of news channels and ensure counteraction to information influence of the Russian Federation. 

We will remind, three news channels –  NewsOne ,  «112 Ukraine»  and  ZIK  – belong to Taras Kozak and are included in the media holding «News», which is headed by the television producer Alexei Semenov. He purchased these channels gradually, from October 2018 to June 2019. Taras Kozak is a close ally of a Ukrainian politician, one of the leaders of the Opposition Platform – For Life party and Vladimir Putin’s godfather, Viktor Medvedchuk, and their brothers are business partners.

People’s Deputy Nikita Poturaev said that the president’s team has  worked on decisions  on Medvedchuk’s channels. President Volodymyr Zelensky stated that he  knew where Viktor Medvedchuk had money to finance his party and TV channels .

(c) detector.media