Turkmenistan demands that Ukrainian authorities prevent media from publishing inaccurate information - Foreign Ministry

ASHGABAT. July 9 (Interfax) - The Turkmen Foreign Ministry has demanded that Ukrainian authorities prevent Ukrainian media from publishing inaccurate information about Turkmenistan.

"Given tendentious reports of Ukrainian media outlets about Turkmenistan, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry states the following. The Turkmen side protests the biased and inaccurate information released by the Ukrainian television channel Freedom on July 8 and alleging the 'closeness' of Turkmenistan in terms of access to the Internet," the ministry press service said.

"It is completely incomprehensible what right do representatives of the above-mentioned channel, who have no real idea about modern Turkmenistan, have never visited our country, and also have no contacts with representatives of its state and public entities or their colleagues - Turkmen journalists, have to disseminate such information?" the press service said.

"This is not the first time that the Freedom television channel misinforms the audience with knowingly inaccurate and distorted information about Turkmenistan," it said.

"All that is happening against the backdrop of economic and humanitarian support for the Ukrainian people provided by the Turkmen side over years, since the beginning of Turkmenistan's independence," the ministry said.

"Since the 1990s, Turkmenistan has been supplying substantial amounts of natural gas to Ukraine for years. Besides, a number of Ukrainian companies have implemented numerous energy, road, transport, communication, infrastructure and other projects worth billions of dollars in Turkmenistan. These companies are still working in our country," it said.

"With this in mind, the Turkmen side demands that respective Ukrainian authorities, overseeing the information policy, take the necessary measures consistent with Ukrainian laws to prevent such facts from recurring," the ministry said.