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A truly unhealthy situation with freedom of speech and the activities of the mass media has developed in Ukraine. The closure of three television channels, as well as the Nazi radicals' attempts to attack NASH TV channel, are an alarming signal to society that the practice of silencing of dissent, which was so actively harnessed during the Petro Poroshenko time, is coming back to the country. Journalists who have opinions different from the official ones are labelled as “separatists”, “vatniks” (sort of Pro-Russian jingoists) and “agents of Moscow”. The channels are accused of "working for enemy propaganda" without a court order and thorough examination. A new wave of “witch hunt” commences.

In this situation, the first thing attention should be drawn to is the basic principle of democracy – the principle of freedom of speech guaranteed by the Constitution of Ukraine. Whatever the pretext is, no matter how noble the goals are, it is obvious that the principle of freedom of speech is grossly violated.

The Ministry of Finance and the National Bank of Ukraine should take a more active position and initiate a deferral of payments and, possibly, a restructuring of the state debt. On 21-22 November, Riyadh hosted a very important G20 Summit under the chairmanship of Saudi Arabia. One of its outcomes was the final Declaration, in which the G20 States set down their intention to extend the deferral of debt repayments for the world's poorest countries to a total of USD 5.7 billion until mid-2021.

Ukraine could also initiate negotiations with international creditors to have our external obligations reviewed. To ask for help, we should not wait for the catastrophic deterioration in the economic situation to the level of countries that were granted debt rescheduling by G20. The war, deindustrialization, a sharp drop in foreign investment, and now the coronavirus pandemic put the chances of our economic recovery at threat.