YouTube has blocked access to the channel of former adviser to the Office of the President of Ukraine Oleksiy Arestovych for users from Ukraine. About this reported the press service of the Center for Combating Disinformation (CCP) at the National Security Council.
Arestovich’s channel has 1.89 million subscribers. According to the CPD, the restrictions also affected the channels of political scientist Kostyantyn Bondarenko, the head of the Derzhava party Dmytro Vasilets, and journalist Anastasia Kashevarova. All these persons are subject to Ukrainian sanctions. The CPD added that previously the channels of journalist Oleksandr Shelest (recognized in Russia as a “foreign agent”) and political scientist Vadym Karasyov were also blocked.
We will remind that sanctions against Arestovych were introduced at the beginning of May for a period of ten years. They provide for the blocking of assets, restriction of access to social networks and a ban on the dissemination of information within Ukraine.
Arestovych left his post in January 2023 after a loud statement about the role of the Ukrainian Air Defense Forces in the destruction of a residential building in Dnipro. Later, he admitted the words were wrong and apologized. After his resignation, he left Ukraine and repeatedly criticized President Zelensky’s policy.
Criminal proceedings have been opened against Arestovych in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. In Russia, he was arrested in absentia on charges of calling for terrorism and spreading false information about the army. In Belarus, calls for terrorist attacks on railways are thrown at him.
