KIEV, Aug. 11 – The International Press Institute (IPI), the world’s oldest global press freedom organization, in an open letter to President Viktor Yanukovych, expressed concern over the “significant deterioration” of press freedom in Ukraine.

The Vienna-based IPI becomes the second major international media watchdog that over the past 20 days has issued criticism of the way the Yanukovych government has been handling freedom of speech.

Alison Bethel McKenzie, the interim director of IPI, pointed to “significant deterioration” in press freedom since Yanukovych took office in February.

“A rise in attacks on journalists has been reported, along with a climate of impunity,” McKenzie said in the letter published on the IPI’s Website

“The current developments run counter to your public pledges to defend the freedom of the press and ‘to prevent pressure on the media,” she said.

The letter shows that international pressure has been mounting on Yanukovych to investigate many attacks on reporters over the past six months, something that has been apparently reluctant to do.

The pressure rises as Ukraine becomes more dependent on international financial organizations, such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, as the government lacks money to finance budget deficit.

Apparently seeking to contain the criticism, Yanukovych on Wednesday had issued a statement pledging his commitment to the freedom of speech.

“Let me state again – the process of expanding press freedom in Ukraine is irreversible,” Yanukovych said. “I will never allow returning to the censorship or other forms of pressure against reporters.”

Yanukovych invited the IPI to join the government in a team that is working on turning the state-owned television channel into a television that will be independently controlled.

“Join us. Submit your proposals,” Yanukovych said. “Let’s work together.”

The IPI specifically mentioned a number of cases that underscore the growing pressure on journalists over the past six months.

In one of the biggest attacks on media that worries the watch group, Kiev court decided in June to cancel the allocation of broadcasting frequencies to two privately-run TV channels - TVi and Channel 5.

Both channels have been taking an unbiased course and allowing opposition leaders to speak to criticize the government and Yanukovych.

Also, most recently a blogger was summoned to the SBU security service after posting a letter criticizing Yanukovych, triggering a wave of such criticism from other bloggers.

“After President Yanukovych came to power a number of topics became off-limits,” TVi Chief Executive Mykola Kniazhytskiy told IPI. “On top of that there have been attempts to take away the licenses of TVi and Channel 5.”

The IPI also mentioned that several journalist were attacked by police and security agents over the past several months.

“The courts are refusing to defend the journalists,” Kniazhytskyi said. “This is a consequence of a decrease in independence in the judicial branch.”

Kniazhytskiy himself was recently followed by a car with false license plates which parked in front of his house and in front of the TV channel.

Jean-François Julliard, the secretary general of the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders, was in Ukraine in July on a mission to inspect the freedom of speech in the country.

He criticized the authorities, but singled out Valeriy Khoroshovskiy, the SBU chief who combines his security service chief job with the job as the top executive at Inter media group, which includes Ukraine’s most popular television channel.

“This is a real conflict of interests,” Julliard said on July 20. “This is absolutely unacceptable.”

Julliard was expected to meet Yanukovych, but the meeting was cancelled after Yanukovych had taken 46-day vacation since July 9.

Yanukovych cut his vacation short last week and returned to Kiev amid reports of spread of wildfires in Ukraine. (tl/ez)