During the Great War, Russia committed 543 crimes against the media and journalists

Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Russians have killed 69 journalists in Ukraine, 10 of them while performing professional journalistic activities.

In the year and nine months since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russia has committed 543 crimes against journalists and media in Ukraine. This is evidenced by the monitoring of Russian crimes against journalists and media carried out by the Institute of Mass Information (IMI).

In October-November, IMI recorded three violations of freedom of speech committed by Russia – kidnapping and cyber attacks.

In total, since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of the territory of Ukraine, the Russians have killed 69 journalists, 10 of them while performing professional journalistic activities.

In November, Taras Davidyuk, a military man, editor-in-chief and founder of the Rivne publication “Horyn.info” died in the war. The defender died on November 3 on the outskirts of Robotiny, Zaporizhzhia region. He was 37 years old. Taras Davidyuk participated in the Revolution of Dignity. With the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, he served in the “Harpoon” volunteer battalion.

After that, he continued his service in one of the separate reconnaissance battalions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He returned home only in the spring of 2019. From the beginning of the full-scale war, Taras went to the front. In recent months, he fought in the 14th separate regiment together with his comrades from Harpoon.

In October, it became known about the abduction of the administrators of the Telegram channels of the Zaporizhzhia regional publication “RIA-Melitopol” and “Melitopol is Ukraine”, who are being held captive by the Russians and accused of terrorism. The Russians released the video of their detention in propaganda media and Telegram channels only on October 29, although they were captured on August 20. The Russians made public the names of the following detainees: Oleksandr Malyshev, Georgy Levchenko, Maksym Rupchov, Yana Suvorova, Mark Kaliush, Kostiantyn Zinovkin. All of them are charged under several articles of the Russian criminal code: public calls for terrorist attacks, treason, espionage. They face 12 to 20 years in prison.

In November, Russian hackers attacked the broadcast of the “The only news/Edyny Novyni” telethon. The broadcast was interrupted by Russian music videos and propaganda. The Russians attacked the signal on the satellite. However, specialists noticed and repelled the attack in time.

The Russians also attacked Suspilny satellite TV channels. Attempts to interfere with the work of five Suspilny television channels broadcasting via satellite were recorded: they tried to jam them and change their content. It was about the satellite TV channels “Pershiy”, “Suspilne Novovinty”, “Suspilne Krym”, “Suspilne Kultura” and “Suspilne Sport”, which viewers watch through individual satellite antennas.

In the comments of IMI, the head of the Supervisory Board of the Public Svetlana Ostapa noted that Russia was behind the attack. “We found out that Russia is behind this. We associate it with independent broadcasting and truthful coverage of the war, which the aggressor does not like very much. We managed to quickly restore broadcasting. But to protect itself from being blocked, the company is considering switching to another, more secure satellite,” she said.