The Ministry of Culture of Kyrgyzstan demanded to remove the material «March on Bishkek. How the people of the owner of PMC Wagner «helped» to elect the president of Kyrgyzstan» from the website of Noviye Litsa (New Faces) media outlet. Kloop reported.
The order of the agency says: the material contains «false information» that political strategist Alexander Malkevich, associated with the founder of PMC Wagner Yevgeny Prigozhin, helped with the election campaign of Sadyr Japarov. There is no evidence of the falsity of this information in the document.
The material was published on August 30 on the websites of Noviye Litsa, Kloop and Azattyk. The latter received a strict warning from the Ministry of Culture. The ministry demanded from Azattyk to remove the material. Otherwise, they threaten to take measures under the Law «On Protection from False Information».
The spokesman for the head of state, Askat Alagozov, commented on the order of the Ministry of Culture on his Facebook page.
«I note with deep regret that the dissemination of information at the level of rumors and conversations by such media with a global audience as Azattyk casts a shadow on the professionalism of the employees working here. If this material is part of a policy to denigrate the country’s leadership, then the need for such media in our country may be on the agenda,» he said.
