117. The HRMMU remains concerned about the curtailment of freedom of expression, including harassment and threats to targeting journalists working in Ukraine, mostly in eastern regions (see section C, in Chapter V). 118. During the reporting period, a few isolated cases of obstruction to media work and attacks on journalists were registered across Ukraine. 119. On 23 May, two journalists of “Russia Today”, who were travelling to Ukraine to cover the elections, were denied entry at Odesa airport. The border officers reportedly forced them to buy return tickets to Moscow and fly back, without providing any reason. 120. On 25 May and shortly after, journalists were prevented from filming the vote counting. The HRMMU is aware of such cases having occurred in Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Kremenchuk (Poltava region), Lviv, Mykolaiv, Uzhgorod and Kyiv. To the knowledge of the HRMMU, none of these instances resulted in physical violence or damage to equipment. 121. On 23 May, the holding “Multimedia invest group”, based in Kyiv, reported that the accounts of the company were blocked and its building was searched by tax police. The management sees this as pressure against its media outlets (newspaper and website “Vesti”, TV Channel UBR and Radio Vesti) which are critical of the Government. 122. In general, the developments in eastern and southern regions of Ukraine and the large number of casualties have generated an escalation of hate speech and tension between the two rival sides. This is particularly obvious in social media. D. Minority rights 123. The HRMMU regularly meets representatives of various minorities in Ukraine. In the reporting period no major incidents and human rights violations were reported in that regard. National and Ethnic minorities 124. Ethnic minorities generally speak of positive relations and atmosphere conducive to exercising their human rights, including cultural rights. Some communities, particularly Russian, expressed concerns with the lack of financial allocations for the needs of ethnic minorities or bureaucratic obstructions by local authorities, for example, in establishing additional schools, churches, newspapers, etc. 125. On 20 May, during a press-conference, Josyf Zisels, the Head of the Association of the Jewish Organisations and Communities of Ukraine, underlined that there was no increase in anti-Semitism in Ukraine. He noted that the number of anti-Semitic incidents is declining since 2007. While pointing out that in the first half of 2014 more Ukrainian Jews had migrated to Israel compared to the previous year, he attributed this to the social-economic impact of the situation in Crimea and in the eastern regions. Linguistic rights 126. The guarantees of using one’s mother tongue freely in private and public life without discrimination remain high on the public agenda. The Law “On the Basics of State Language Policy” currently in force (provides for the introduction of a “regional 92 | P a g e