Finnish and Russian media outlets report that in Sloviansk Finnish journalist and politician was beaten

In February, in the town of Sloviansk (Donetska oblast), which is under Ukraine’s control, Antero Eerola, Finnish politician and journalist, and expert in Russian affairs was beaten. This is reported by Telekrytyka with reference to Finnish newspaper Helsinginuutiset.fi.

This incident was also reported by several Russian media outlets, in particular, the Russian informational agency Regnum, which is overtly anti-Ukrainian and calls Sloviansk  “the town occupied by the Military Forces of Ukraine.

According to Antero Eerola, the attack on him took place in Sloviansk, where he was staying in a hotel. As Eerola says, when he went to eat to a local restaurant he was addressed in Ukrainian by a group of aggressive young men and he told them he did not understand any Ukrainian, only Russian, and they punched him in the face. It is still unknown what these men wanted from him and how he identified that they were speaking Ukrainian.