Media representatives are being granted access to the Verkhovna Rada to cover the work of the parliament during plenary sessions in the same mode as during the coronavirus pandemic. This was announced by the Chief of Staff of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Vyacheslav Shtuchny during a roundtable discussion on "On the access of journalists to the sidelines of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine," an UNN correspondent reports.
We are returning to the practice that we had during the kovid, where 20-30 media representatives could be present at one time. We will hold additional accreditation for media representatives, and some have already submitted their documents for verification. We will check together with the special services to ensure that there are no people involved in certain events related to Russia. These will be media representatives who cover the activities of the Parliament... Therefore, we are ready for additional accreditation
According to him, in the near future, journalists will be briefed, shown and told what the procedure for access to the government quarter, the Verkhovna Rada building and the procedure for media representatives during air alert will be.
Shtuchnyi also emphasized that there is no bomb shelter in the parliament.
Valentyna Savitska, a representative of the State Protection Department, noted that it will be necessary to properly verify those media representatives who will be allowed to enter the building of the Verkhovna Rada. According to her, more than 4,000 journalists have previously been accredited to the Rada.
Addendum
Earlier, dozens of civil society organizations and media representatives called on the Verkhovna Rada to allow journalists to attend parliamentary sessions and to the sidelines.
For reference
Starting February 24, 2022, Ukrainians cannot even find out in advance when the next plenary session of the Verkhovna Rada will be held and what the agenda is. Such information appears on the VR website later.
A resolution was also approved that banned the parliamentary TV channel from broadcasting live broadcasts from the sessions. Recordings are made public only later on YouTube.
At the same time, some MPs not only quote the Rada meetings in their Telegram channels, but even broadcast live broadcasts from the Verkhovna Rada meetings on TikTok.