Leaders of a number of European Union journalists' unions have called on the Russian media not to support Moscow's aggression.

According to the appeal, published on the website of the Lithuanian Union of Journalists, the Russian media are directly responsible for the war in Ukraine.

"Today is the defining hour. Putin's clique, which has repeatedly shredded the Constitution to retain power, has destroyed the country's economy. You are direct accomplices and helpers of this criminal regime," said the leaders of journalistic organizations in Belarus, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Germany.

They urged Russian journalists to dare to call a spade a spade and avoid spreading propaganda.

Earlier the editors of the independent Belarusian media recorded a video address to Ukrainians in which they expressed solidarity and explained why Belarusian society cannot stop the aggression of the Lukashenko regime against Ukraine. The video address was published by the Belarusian Press Club.

Full text of the statement by European journalists:

"You, the Russian media, have direct and immediate responsibility for the next war waged by the Putin regime. For many years you have ignored an important postulate of journalism - checking information. You broadcast lies from the Kremlin and further dispersed its degree, arranging long-running pseudo-discussions, while not allowing any dissent in fact.

You lied to the Russians about the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008; the illegal and illegitimate "referendum" in Crimea in 2014 was issued according to Kremlin methods for "solemnity of the people's will"; and now the audience hears from you about the Nazis, who exist only in the maniacal consciousness of a bizarre cowardly man, locked in a deep bunker, even from his accomplices.

The delusion and wordplay of not always sober and adequate pro-government speakers seemed to you to be the truth in the last resort. Now the blood of children and the elderly in Ukraine, the crippled fate of intoxicated Russian soldiers - and on your conscience.

Yes, the Putin regime is tough. Yes, not everyone will find the mental strength to tell the truth into microphones and TV cameras. But there is always the opportunity to refuse - not even to be released, just not to tell lies. Do not pick up papers with "news" made in the Kremlin - which are laughed at by sensible people around the world. If solidarity wins, the regime will not find strikebreakers for this dirty and deadly work. Today is the defining hour. Putin's clique, which has repeatedly shredded the Constitution to retain power, has destroyed the country's economy. You are direct accomplices and helpers of this criminal regime. Please do not waste time on useless talk shows and big stories a la "How can we avoid sanctions". Speak directly - why these sanctions were imposed. Lack of courage - again, just go away: take sick leave, go on vacation, take a vacation at your own expense. In a few weeks, people left without information dope - alone with empty shelves - will draw the right conclusions.

Once again, today is still an opportunity to get out of this trap that you have, consciously or involuntarily, fallen into. Maybe you lose your job, maybe someone has a mortgage - but think about it, if the country changes - your job will return, but why do you need a mortgage apartment, in which you will not be able to buy wallpaper, tiles or kitchen faucet - a big question. And you risk becoming for many years the representatives of the latest generation of Russians who traveled abroad freely or bought good cars. To stop working on Putin's propaganda now means to avoid criminal prosecution. Current Russian laws, although passed by the Putin regime, make it possible to convict anyone who has spread lies from the Kremlin for promoting an aggressive war. In addition, the investigation of the crimes of the Russian military in Ukraine is already underway by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Captive Russian soldiers are already testifying that they have been deceived by their commanders, as well as by Russian television and radio - and this will be sufficient grounds to prosecute anyone who is seen on the air and in the press with false statements from the Pali warriors. Such monitoring begins at 00:00 on the day following the publication of this manifesto. And the names of those who will continue to flood Russia with streams of fakes will be circulated in the world's leading media. Margarita Simonyan, for example, will soon be wanted internationally. She is the first, but not the last. Mankind will fully return the forgotten lessons of the Second World War as well as Russian television and radio - and this will be a sufficient basis for instituting criminal proceedings against all those who will be seen on the air and in the press with false statements from the piles of war.

Chief among them - complicity in warfare and the killing of civilians - is the most serious crime. And a terrible sin - if the words of faith are still able to touch your souls.

We will remind you of the fate of Hans Friche, the head of the imperial radio of the Third Reich. He was sentenced to 9 years in prison - only for participating in the Nazi propaganda machine. And he died in solitary confinement.

Think about it, if the mind has not yet left you - your superiors, when giving orders to publish lies, do not do so in writing. And when the time comes for retribution, they will declare, to soften their fate, that you did it all of your own free will. You will be betrayed, as Russian generals betray their soldiers and officers, leaving them half-dressed and hungry at random.

And along with criminal cases and harsh sentences, you will also be sued by thousands of relatives of those who died in Ukraine from Russian shells and bombs. And your mortgage apartments are definitely not enough to pay for them. Do not turn your life, the lives of your parents and children, the lives of all Russians into hell! Get out of this crazy carousel of hypocrisy, meanness and deception. Leave the main criminal alone - for fear of imminent retribution.

Just now. Tomorrow may be too late!


Andriy Bastunets, Chairman of the Belarusian Association of Journalists
Helle Tiikmaa, President of the Estonian Journalists' Union
Dr. Wolfgang Ressmann, Chairman of the National Council of Public Access Channels (bvbm), Germany. Organizer of the Media Dialogue, Ludwigshafen, Germany
Imants Liepins, Member of the Board of the Latvian Union of Journalists
Ilya Kozins, Chairman of the Board of the Latvian Association of Journalists
Dainius Radziavičius is the chairman of the Lithuanian Union of Journalists
Krzysztof Skowronski, Chairman of the Polish Association of Journalists