In the week since the Ukrainian security service, the SBU, staged the assassination of Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko, little if any dust stirred up by the elaborate and controversial operation–ostensibly carried out to foil a Russian plot to kill him–has settled.
Instead, with the arrest of the alleged organizer (the director of a Ukrainian arms maker that supplies the country’s military) and the admission of the would-be shooter authorities claim he hired (a right-wing former-monk-cum-Ukrainian-war-veteran), the case has grown more bizarre and complex.
On June 1, authorities claimed to have discovered an alleged Russian hit list of 47 people–mostly Ukrainian and Russian journalists and bloggers in Ukraine–which has added to the consternation.
Journalists here have long been on edge, what with numerous cases of harassment, physical attacks, and the publishing of personal information, known as doxing. Seven journalists in Ukraine have been targeted for murder, four with complete impunity, since CPJ began keeping detailed records in 1992. The most recent was the brazen daylight car bomb assassination of Belarusian-born Russian journalist Pavel Sheremet, in July 2016, which sent a chill through newsrooms.
The murky Babchenko operation and the so-called hit list, as well as remarks made by Ukrainian officials and associated websites in recent days, have exacerbated journalists’ unease. Babchenko himself has not responded to CPJ’s interview requests. But in a series of posts on his Facebook page, the Russian journalist has castigated colleagues who criticized his decision to cooperate with the SBU.
In a post on her personal Facebook page, Larysa Sargan, spokesperson for Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko, added two prominent journalists to a list of citizens she suggested behaved in a “traitorous” manner when they criticized the staged murder of Babchenko.
Meanwhile, a pro-government website that has in the past doxed journalists who reported critically on Ukrainian authorities published a statement to “reassure some well-known ‘journalists’ who are not on the list for liquidation,” a reference to the alleged hit list. After naming nine Ukrainian journalists, it added: “Sleep calmly, dear ‘friends,’ you are still very much needed for the Russian aggressor, because you are its hope and support in Ukraine.”
In light of all this, CPJ asked several Ukrainian and Russian journalists who live and work in Ukraine what they thought about the Babchenko case, how they feel about their safety, the credibility of authorities, and what they perceive as the implications for journalists going forward. Their answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Vitaliy Sych, editor-in-chief, Novoye Vremya newsmagazine:
In all, I am not impressed by the SBU operation. First of all, many members of our editorial team knew Babchenko and went to deliver condolences and flowers to his wife the next day after. It wasn’t a game for them. Secondly, some journalists became really concerned as they justly assumed that they would be next.
This is merely an emotional side of the story. The rational one: is…
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