KYIV, Dec 14 - The owner of the Swiss company Plirofories AG (owned 100% of the TV channels of 112.ua group), Eduard Katz, has announced his withdrawal from media business in Ukraine and the sale of the television channel.

"The reasons for his decision, he said, were the complex issues with protection of freedom of speech in Ukraine, the preclusion of the TV channel's activity by the Ukrainian parliament and the National Council of TV and Radio Broadcasting, and the excessive political nature of the information market in Ukraine, which endangers living up to the journalism standards in the channel's everyday activities," according to a report on the website of the 112 Ukraine channel.