Two Crimean journalists propagandized their own and heroized the invaders

Two Crimean journalists face up to 12 years in prison for propagandizing war and glorifying Russian invaders. They published a pro-Russian publication that was distributed among the Russian military and on the Internet.

This was reported by the press service of the Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.

Two Crimean media workers - the editor-in-chief and the coordinator of the "Krymska Gazeta. Special Issue" - were suspected of collaboration and dissemination of materials justifying Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine.

This is a separate propaganda project created by the occupier-controlled "Ministry of Internal Policy, Information and Communications of the Republic of Crimea" to impose the idea of the peninsula as Russian territory.

The investigation established that from February to March 2023, the suspects prepared and published weekly issues of the newspaper addressed to the Russian military.

PHOTO: Prosecutor's Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea

These materials included interviews with participants in the armed aggression, official reports from the Russian Ministry of Defense, news about volunteer assistance to the invaders, and texts conveying Russian propaganda ideas about the so-called fight against Ukrainian Nazism. The issues of the publication were distributed not only at the front, but also via the Internet.

The forensic linguistic examination confirmed that the articles approved and posted by the suspects contained calls to support the actions of the Russian military, justify military aggression and glorify its participants. Their actions were classified under the Criminal Code of Ukraine as collaboration and dissemination of justifications for aggression through the media. For this, they face up to 12 years in prison.

Four Ukrainian citizens are also accused of assisting the Russian armed forces in Crimea. According to the investigation, they helped the occupiers, including repairing equipment, transferring equipment and organizing fundraisers for the needs of the aggressor's army.

Анна Бальчінос