Editor Irina Kovalchuk of Ukraine’s Segodnya (Today) newspaper is added on the list of Azerbaijan’s persona non grata, for visiting the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and interviewing its leaders.
At that time, a large group of Ukrainian journalists had traveled to Karabakh and, as a result, they were all put on this “black list.”
“The visit was organized by Armenia’s embassy, [and] upon the request by Segodnya newspaper,” Kovalchuk told Obozrevatel (Observer) magazine, Analitikaua.net reports.
“Any professional journalist, who writes on international topics and reflects on unrecognized republics, should be at the conflict zones,” she stated.
“I do not care what the Azerbaijanis do. Following our visit, their media launched a campaign against Ukrainian newspapers and TVs. By feeling on my own skin all those ‘joys’ of the informational attack which were completely unfounded, I realize that it is just perilous for me to be in [Azerbaijani capital city] Baku. So, I do not see any sense in getting an opportunity to visit Baku,” Kovalchuk also said.