Radio VR is looking at Kiev’s special attitude to journalists and information, together with Maria Zakharova, Deputy Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Kiev still fails to provide adequate explanation as to what happened to the Russian photojournalist Andrei Stenin, who went missing in Ukraine on August, 5. Since then we have had no information about him whatsoever. Andrei was working for Rossiya Segodnya news agency, and since May, 13 was reporting from Ukrainian cities of Kiev, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Slavyansk.
On August, 12 the Russian Investigative Committee launched an investigation into the alleged abduction of the journalist, particularly looking into the involvement of Ukraine's National Guard and security services.
International bodies have tried to raise the issue. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) on Monday called for Stenin's urgent release. "We share the concern of our Russian colleagues and support the call of the Alliance of Journalists that Andrei Stenin must be released," said IFJ President Jim Bumela. The US National Press Club on Monday voiced concern for the safety of Andrei Stenin and for other reporters endangered in that war zone.
The Organization for Security and cooperation in Europe joined in. “I call for Stenin’s immediate release,” OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatović said. “This dangerous practice of detaining and abducting media workers is unacceptable and must end.” Tatyana Lokshina, a representative for Human Rights Watch in Russia, called Ukraine a “trap for journalists.”
Stenin’s colleagues made every effort to determine his whereabouts . The only reaction they got was from an aide to Ukrainian Interior Ministry Anton Gerashenko who asked them not to bother him with questions about Andrei Stenin.
Says Maria Zakharova, Deputy Director of the Information and Press Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
“The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is doing their best, trying to take all the steps necessary to find out any information about Andrei Stenin. The Russian Embassy in Kiev is in contact with the Ukrainian officials and the Ukrainian governmental structures trying to find some news about the Russian correspondent.
Mr. Lavrov, the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs is raising this issue during his contacts with his foreign colleagues. And the ministry itself is drawing the attention of the civil society, diplomatic corps to bring this issue on the table, because this is a very serious thing. He is not the only one Russian journalist missing in Ukraine. Previously, there were a number of Russian journalists, correspondents who were kidnapped, beaten, arrested in Ukraine. So, this is a very serious situation.
How unique is the maltreatment of journalists by government agencies?
Maria Zakharova: Actually, it is a unique situation for Europe. We have never met such things in the European countries before, especially in the country which is supporting democracy values – the freedom of speech etc. For Russia it is rather surprising that, on the one hand, the official Kiev is claiming and calling for the European values and, on the other hand, they are not keeping these values and are not providing protection for the foreign journalists, for the Russian journalists in particular.
What exactly does the international legislation say about the protection of journalists in the zones of conflict?
Maria Zakharova: I'm not actually a lawyer and at this moment I cannot quote some particular documents, but I can say that all the approved international organizations’ documents and declarations, in general, say that journalists should be treated not as a representative of any party of the conflict. Journalists are doing their job, they are trying to report objective information and that is why they are working to find out more information from all sides of the conflict. That is why they should be protected and that is why they should be treated as someone very special. So, we hope that the official Kiev will follow this route and follow all the international obligations in this field.
The official Kiev has its own special way of working with information. I'm referring to the recent press release story...
Oh, yes, that was a “dramatic” story, which happened a couple of days ago. There was an article published in The Guardian - to my mind, a very responsible newspaper. According to their correspondent Russia invaded Ukraine militarily. It was a real statement. It wasn’t a question. It wasn’t a presupposition. It was a real statement. But, unfortunately, there were no quotes proving this information from the Russian side or from the Ukrainian side. That was just a statement made by the newspaper.
Russia immediately, I guess it happened in an hour or two, dismissed this information saying that this is not true, there weren’t any military vehicles entering Ukraine. But we heard nothing from the Ukrainian side. And that was very strange, because, actually, if your country is under another country’s aggression, you would immediately make a statement saying that foreign troops or foreign military vehicles entered your country. But nothing like that happened.
That wasn’t the end of the story. That was about afternoon when the press service of Mr. Poroshenko, who is the President of Ukraine, published a very strange press release about the phone conversation between Mr. Poroshenko and Mr. Cameron, who is the Prime Minister of Great Britain, the country in which the Guardian is published.
Now, two hours after this phone call, the strangest thing about this press release happened, as the press service of the Ukrainian President made corrections in this press release without any notice about the correction. And in this part which was corrected, a statement appeared saying that during that phone call Mr. Poroshenko proved the information published by the Guardian earlier in the morning, saying that the Russian intervention into Ukraine took place. That was very strange.
And the very same time in London the Russian Ambassador Mr. Yakovenko was invited to the Foreign Office where very strange things started happening. The Foreign Office representative also quoted the Guardian article actually accusing Russia of intervention into Ukraine. Mr. Yakovenko is a very experienced diplomat. He served as the Russian Ministry or Foreign Affairs’ spokesperson, so he knows the foreign media, and especially The Guardian, very well. So, he dismissed all these accusations saying that Russia has already dismissed this information.
So, that whole story is most strange. It looked like a blockbuster but not as a real life: some newspaper publishes unconfirmed information, and after that officials are using this information, which has no evidence at all, to accuse a country.
And another thing which actually disappointed me is that nobody from the Western media pays any attention to such cases, because this is the case when the presidential administration is changing the official document making it very-very sensitive. So, this is the example of – I don’t know – information war or disinformation. But, unfortunately, our friends from the Western media are paying no attention to this.
As far as I understand, the international journalistic community is raising its voice for Andrei Stenin.
Maria Zakharova: We would like this international reaction to be stronger and the voices of the international media’s community, journalists’ community to be louder. The Russian correspondents, the Russian media people are absolutely equal to the foreign correspondents. And they need to be heard and they need to be protected by the international media community. Actually, we are very satisfied that such international organizations such as the OSCE has already asked and called for Kiev to search and to find out anything about Andrei Stenin. We would like this international reaction to be stronger.
How independent do you think the Ukrainian Government is in its harsh treatment of foreign journalists? Could it be that it is done with ‘blessings’ from US advisors working in Kiev? And in that case, could that be a reason why the Western community is so shy in condemning those practices?
Maria Zakharova: You know, we already got used to a double-standard approach in issues of the freedom of speech, or media independence. We, as a country, are accused of not providing all the necessary conditions for journalists, for the media to work. But, on the other hand, what we face in those countries who are accusing us, is absolutely double standard. They are not watching themselves, but they are always trying to judge us.
Let’s talk about what is going on in Ferguson. Have you heard that Al Jazeera media crew was attacked by the local police, which used gas against the journalists from Al Jazeera? Those correspondents were not part of the conflict. They were not on the side of police or on the other side. They were just trying to do their job. They were just trying to make a report from this city, so that their audience knows what is going on there and they were attacked by the police. Some other guys taped this aggression against the journalists, and, fortunately, now we know that in their own country the American officials are actually not protecting the journalists, and for a policeman it is a normal thing to attack journalists.
