FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
Ukrainians Raid RIA Novosti Offices; State Department Blames ‘Russian Propaganda’
May 16, 20018 (EIRNS)—Yesterday, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) raided the offices of RIA Novosti Ukraine news service in Kiev, and arrested its director Kirill Vyshinsky on charges of treason. Vyshinsky holds dual citizenship, and was arrested as a Ukrainian citizen.
The apartments of four other Novosti employees were also searched, one such search lasting 11 hours, Sputnik reported. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko charged that RIA Novosti, and Vyshinsky in particular, maintained an “anti-Ukrainian” editorial policy, and described the news agency as “the descendants of Goebbels ... engaged in disinformation war.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry issued two notes of protest and spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Ukraine’s actions represented the “suppression of dissent in the worst totalitarian tradition.” Internationally, the International Federation of Journalists, Human Rights Watch, and the Freedom of Media director of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), expressed grave concern over the SBU’s actions. Otherwise, with few exceptions, the silence from other international and mainstream media has been deafening.
And then, there is State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, who stands in a class of her own. RT reported her statement that “we understand that Ukraine, like a lot of other countries, has been concerned about the intense [Russian] propaganda.... Goodness, when we talk with a lot of our allies and partners overseas, they certainly have fallen victim, and understand, the influence and the reach of Russian propaganda. So we do understand Ukraine’s concerns about that.” As an afterthought, she said, that, of course, if there are searches of media outlets, they should be done “in accordance with the law.”
