Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty President Jamie Fly made a statement on the situation around Azattyk Radio and Current Time.

«RFE/RL takes its commitment to balanced reporting seriously. We have studied the content of this material and found no violation of our standards. We will not succumb to pressure to remove balanced material from our sites, whether it be from the Kremlin or the Government of Kyrgyzstan,» the statement reads.

Jamie Fly noted that «threats against journalists and attempts to silence independent media are authoritarian tactics that only undermine democracy in Kyrgyzstan.»

Azattyk is the Kyrgyz service of the non-profit, independent corporation Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, officially registered in Kyrgyzstan as Azattyk Media.

The Ministry of Culture, Information, Sports and Youth Policy announced that it had suspended the operation of Radio Azattyk website for two months.

The ministry noted that on September 16, Current Time resource (subordinate structure of Azattyk Media) published a video «Heavy fighting on the border of Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan», in which «elements of hate speech were used, as well as unconfirmed information about an alleged attack by the Kyrgyz side on Tajikistan, information that aggravates the situation in society and causes hatred, discrimination and division among citizens, when covering events in Batken region.»

It is known that an activist Umai Arykova complained about this video on social media.

President Sadyr Japarov signed the Law on protection against inaccurate (false) information initiated by MP Gulshat Asylbayeva on August 23, 2021. The discriminatory document was adopted by the sixth convocation after a meeting with the head of state in violation of all procedures of the regulations. Representatives of the media community and experts have repeatedly stated that the law is directed against independent media. Blocking of the website of Respublika newspaper and the partial blocking of 24.kg news agency website are the proof of this.