Pure fiction: Russia uses sham foreign journalists to create an illusion of freedom of speech in the TOT

A week ago, Telegram channels reporting on the Zaporizhzhia oblast TOT and even Russia's central propaganda outlets such as TASS released multiple news about a delegation of "foreign journalists" that visited the occupied Zaporizhia NPP in Enerhodar and the Melitopol State University, which has been seized by the Russians. Judging by these reports, each such visit is overseen by some entity: a Russia-installed ministry (e.g., the "Ministry of Youth Policy"), or the ubiquitous Russian society "Znanie", or some "State Enterprise 'State Grain Operator'", which appropriated all the farms in the Zaporizhzhia oblast TOT at the beginning of the occupation, essentially crippling the farmers with unreasonable grain purchase conditions, etc. In short, reports and news stories about the last visit are a total soup of lies, manipulation, and propaganda.

We saw what the visit to the TOT by "foreign media community representatives" looked like on the propaganda channel "Za!TV", the Telegram channels "Zaporozhsky Telegraf", "Gosudarstvennyj Zernovoy operator" (State Grain Operator), "ZNPP.Officially", and in the news feed of the propaganda outlet TASS,

According to the propagandists, "about 15 representatives of online media from China, France, the US, Greece, Italy, African countries, and others." visited the ZNPP. The "other countries" are not named. Neither are there any details on who these people people are and for which media outlets they work. The most awkward was the situation with the "journalist from China", who has different names in two different news stories about his visit to the ZNPP.

The author of one of the new on Za!TV, the collaborator Myroslava Butenko, begins her report on the visit of unknown "journalists" to the ZNPP with Stepan Kuvachyov, a "Zaporizhzhia oblast legislative assembly deputy." "All the journalists, convinced that it is the Russian Federation that provides objective information, having had their fill of it, I think, will be able to convey the position of not only Zaporizhzhia oblast, but also of the Russian Federation as a whole to their followers, their target groups, and their audiences," he says on camera.

Occupier Kuvachyov talks about the "objectivity of information" in the mass media. Screenshot from Za!TV

Russia's "position" is standard: the Russian invaders bring love and protection, while "Kyiv's militant groups" attack the nuclear power plant day after day and are not letting the peaceful Russian invaders who occupied Enerhodar and the nuclear plant live.

The news says that "a group of foreign journalists visited the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to see with their own eyes that the the ZNPP staff is fully ensuring the safe operation of the plant despite the provocations by the Ukrainian Armed Forces."

The overall message of these stories and texts is that the Zaporizhzhia NPP "is working at 60–70% capacity." It will take a year for it to work at 100%, "provided there is no threat of shelling." The "Western journalists" were not told that all six reactors at the Zaporizhzhia NPP are currently in "cold shutdown" mode. The plant's fourth block was switched to this mode on April 13, 2024.

The most important question posed to the "journalists" by the anchor: do they feel safe. Yes, totally, say all the interviewed "journalists". One of them is Charles Wang, an obscure "journalist from China." In Russian, with a remarkably good pronunciation for a foreigner, he says enthusiastically: "We are just 5 kilometers away from the frontline. It's amazing that all these scientists are simply doing their job. Everything is fine, and in the city people walk around peacefully," he says.

Charles Wang will make a comeback in another news story, albeit under the name "Lu Yuguang". This did not help us verify this person or even identify the media outlet he works for, though. As was the case with the other, unnamed extras of this news story. A search in Google only yielded us two links related to Lu Yuguang, a pro-Russian correspondent for Chinese television working in Russia, but this is definitely not him.

Charles Wang/"Lu Yuguang" at the ZNPP saying he is not afraid at all. Screenshots from Za!TV, Infobae

Charles Wang/"Lu Yuguang" at the ZNPP saying he is not afraid at all. Screenshots from Za!TV, Infobae

Charles Wang/"Lu Yuguang" at the ZNPP saying he is not afraid at all / Lu Yuguang, the war correspondent. Screenshots from Za!TV, Infobae

In the second news story about the visit to the occupied ZNPP (this one is nearly seven minutes long), more representatives of "foreign media" make an appearance.

The report begins with a question from Raymond Agbadi, a "journalist" from the Republic of Ghana. "Some say that you can make an atomic bomb at a nuclear plant. Can an atomic bomb be made at the ZNPP?" he asks a local occupation official, the ZNPP "director" , collaborator Yuriy Chernychuk.

Chernychuk laughs and hints: "In theory, you can make an atomic bomb at home," explaining that no, you need different capacities for this, and the ZNPP is not designed for such tasks.

Raymond Agbadi, a "media community representative from the Republic of Ghana" is another obscure character from the "international journalists" delegation. The news does not explain who he is or which specific outlet(s) he works for. "I am happy to be at the Zaporizhzhia NPP, I feel very comfortable here and feel no threat at all. I hope the conflict is resolved soon and the Zaporizhzhia NPP units start working again," says Agbadi, essentially revealing the lie in Russia's optimistic narrative about the ZNPP operating at 70% capacity.

Agbadi from Ghana wonders if you can make a nuclear bomb at the ZNPP. Screenshot from Za!TV

By the way, a person with a similar, though fuller name – Raymond Kojo Agbadi – and a similar face can be found on the Russian website HelloAfrica.ru. The website advertises Africa's great potential as a place for Russian investments and calls to do business there. According to the website, it is edited by a Russian-Cameroonian expert in international business communications who specializes in Africa–Russia relations and has been living in Moscow for the past 30 years. Agbadi's photo is featured in the "Contacts" section. However, no information on who he is is given there, either.

The person resembling the "African journalist" Agbadi. Screenshot from HelloAfrica

Same as with the previous news story, a large part of this one discusses "Kyiv's armed formations" that are "firing at the ZNPP". The "journalists" are allowed to look at the impact of the strikes, but not to take the small details they picked up from the ground with them. One of such "collectors" is Sylvain Baron (spelled Baron Sylvain in the caption) from France. He is present in the frame during the entire report, but gives no comments. It is he whom the interpreter has to explain insistently that he can not take anything with him.

Sylvain Baron (France) wants to take something with him but is not allowed to. Screenshot from Za!TV, ENTV

"We are 6 kilometers away from Ukraine, aren't you afraid?" the news anchor asks Ivy Setordjie, another "journalist" from Ghana, media outlet not specified. "It is absolutely safe here. We have security guards. The Russian state is protecting us. I am a journalist, a professional who sometimes reports on difficult situations, so I am doing my job and I feel completely safe," she says with a smile.

Another journalist from Ghana feels very safe around Russian occupiers. Screenshot from Za!TV, ENTV

Another member of the delegation, "Vasileos Makridis" (likely Vassilis Makridis, self-employed journalist and Rostov-on-Don State University graduate) from Greece, is asked "Journalists are said to be brought here on excursions at gunpoint, how did they bring you here?" and gives a long answer in pure Russian with a minimal accent.

"Not at gunpoint. We would never agree to such conditions. Of course, there are people protecting us and this is absolutely normal and even absolutely necessary, because we are taking risks (?, – Author), of course. But there are things that are not up to us, and competent people who know what they're doing should foresee so that we do not come in any real danger. So I think it's absolutely normal. There was no coercion from the outside, we came of our own free will and we are leaving this place as free people," he finally concludes with an ode of gratitude to the armed guards who never appear in the frame.

The “free man" Makridis believes the armed soldiers guarding his delegation is "absolutely normal". Screenshot from Za!TV, ENTV

In this news story, the Chinese "journalist" Charles Wang/"Lu Yuguang" says that everything about this trip is "unsurpassed", because in the streets of the occupied cities "people just walk around Melitopol, Mariupol, sitting in restaurants" and "there are no soldiers anywhere". This is a lie, however, same as many other things in this report.

In fact, the same "delegation" visited the Melitopol State University as well. In their Telegram channel, the occupation leadership of MelSU writes: "At the round table, representatives of foreign mass media had the opportunity to ask their questions. They asked about the integration processes, international relations, teaching history and the Russian language, the university's role in the development of the region and of the country as a whole. Journalists were particularly interested in the harassment suffered by employees and students of the university at the hands of the Kyiv regime: was this really the case and how did they deal with it? 'Yes, it was not easy at first. But now we can confidently say that we are Russian students and Russian people! And we have nothing to fear!' replied unanimously the MelSU representatives."

In the short video about this visit posted by the propaganda Telegram channel "Zaporozhsky Telegraf", the familiar faces of the delegation's "journalists" are seen flashing here and there, and there was a close-up shot the face of an unnamed "journalist" from the USA (likely Jackson Hinkle, pro-Russia right-wing influencer). He was just there, no name, no comments or any other identifiers.

An "American journalist". Screenshot from "Zaporozhsky Telegraf" on Telegram

All of them, write the propagandists, were treated to "our sweet Melitopol cherries." Eating Melitopol cherries in public is the Russians' another fetish, as they have seized the entire agricultural sector in the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia oblast.

In the meantime, Irina Gecht, the head of the occupation government of the Zaporizhzhia oblast TOT, invited African journalists for a second visit to the occupied territory. As reported by the pro-Russia Telegram channels, the purpose of the trip is to "share experience, the guests' safety guaranteed." A "United Russia" party member from Chelyabinsk (Russia) believes for some reason that "young local journalists will be interested in an internship in their turn." Journalists from Africa have already been to the Zaporizhzhia oblast TOT: a year ago they were brought here "as part of a food safety tour." The propagandists write that not just the Africans, but also "journalists" from Ethiopia, Iran, Italy, Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey and Montenegro visited the TOT in May 2023.

African "journalists" plant sunflowers in occupied Melitopol. Screenshot from the propaganda outlet TASS

"We are interested in cooperation. It may include a visit to you as part of an internship for the oblast's young journalists, to see the way you live. And safety, of course, is ensured here. If you come, it will be guaranteed," the propagandist "Zaporozhsky Telegraf" quotes the address to the Africans by the occupation official.

Well, our interest is that everyone engaged in propaganda on the TOT, everyone traveling around the occupied territories, lying about the safety there, the work of the ZNPP, freedom, including the freedom of speech, and eating our cherry, is justly punished sooner or later. We draw the attention of all the relevant bodies to the new batch of "journalists" working against Ukraine.

Natalia Vyhovska, the IMI representative in Zaporizhzhia oblast