Ukraine's President Bans Journalists From The Country — Then Changes His Mind

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed a decree Wednesday banning more than 400 people — including more than 30 international journalists — from the country for reasons of "national security."

But after facing condemnation from Western allies, Poroshenko just hours later began to backpedal and removed six European journalists from the list.

While mostly made up of Russians and separatists, the list also included 34 journalists and seven bloggers from countries including Britain, Germany and Spain. Poroshenko issued his decree after pro-Russian separatists who have seized parts of Ukraine set a date for what the Ukranian president sees as "illegal elections."

After reversing course and removing three BBC journalists from the list, Poroshenko was quoted as saying, "Freedom of the press is of absolute value to me," in a tweet by his spokesman Svyatoslav Tsegolko.

A security council spokeswoman said later the names of two Spanish correspondents and a German correspondent would also be removed.

Michael Rutz — a German journalist originally included on the list — said he had no idea why the Ukrainian government would want to ban him from the country.

"I have never been to Ukraine and don't have any intention of traveling there in the near future," he told German news agency DPA.

The journalist bans attracted criticism from Johannes Hahn, the European Union's commissioner in charge of enlargement.

"I am surprised and I am concerned and I will certainly discuss it with the colleagues in Ukraine because this is not European in spirit," he said in Brussels.

International watchdog groups including the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said the sanctions would restrict media freedom.

"Introducing over-broad restrictions that curb free movement of journalists is not the way to ensure security," the OSCE's Dunja Mijatovi said in statement.

The United States and the European Union have imposed their own sanctions on Russia in the crisis, which started after Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula. A conflict in Eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatists and Ukraine has left nearly 8,000 people dead. Russia denies any involvement in the fighting.

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Ukraine's sanctions decision could have a "corrosive effect" on important foreign partnerships, said Andreas Umland, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Euro-Atlantic Cooperation in Kiev.

"It is frustrating to note how low the Ukrainian government's expertise on the basics of international affairs and cultural diplomacy is," he said. "The list of banned persons is another public relations disaster for Kiev that is already being utilized by Ukraine's enemies."

On Thursday, Russia said the inclusion of journalists on the sanctions list was "totally unacceptable."

"It does not correspond with the principles of freedom … We very strongly condemn this decision," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.