Killed propagandist Zhuravlyov was among the "Russian tourists" instigating brawls in Donetsk in 2014 – Kazansky
Russian propagandist Rostislav Zhuravlyov, who was killed in Zaporizhia oblast on July 22, was among the "Russian tourists" who attacked police officers and instigated brawls during pro-Russian rallies in Donetsk in 2014. He later joined the militants.
Denys Kazansky, a journalist from Donetsk oblast, spoke to IMI about this.
According to him, the "Russian tourists" had arrived to trigger unrest in the city, because the locals had been afraid to openly commit crimes such as attacking the police or fighting.
"The 'Russian tourists', as they were called then, would arrive in droves for baiting purposes, so to speak, to provoke all this unrest. Because they would openly write on their social media that they were going to Ukraine as tourists. And so they would go. A whole team came from Rostov. I remember they had this guy Prokopenko. He would come. Then there was the convicted Nazi, Khudyakov. He was convicted for bullying migrants. And there was this fellow Zhuravlyov," Kazansky said.
He noted that there were other people as well. They can be seen in archival photos. They were football fans and wore scarves of Russian football clubs. It was obvious right away that they were Russians.
"Such units used to come to Donetsk. It was them who would attack the police, instigate brawls, they were the first to break into the oblast administration building. And the crowd just followed them, because the crowd was mostly women, the elderly, the common people. And the militants themselves were coming from Russia. They had a task to trigger some kind of violence, bloodshed. And this Rostislav Zhuravlyov was among them," the journalist added.
According to him, when hostilities began in 2014, Zhuravlyov joined the fight as an armed militant to commit violence against the people of Donbas, the citizens of Ukraine.
As IMI reported, on July 24, the International and European Federations of Journalists and UNESCO issued statements calling Rostislav Zhuravlyov, who had been partaking in the aggression against Ukraine since 2014, a "journalist". The organizations called for an investigation into the death of the Russian propagandist working for the pro-Kremlin news agency RIA Novosti.
On July 24, Ukrainian journalists and media organizations, members of the Media Movement, called on international organizations not to confuse journalists with propagandists who proactively participate in the Russian aggression against Ukraine.
On July 22, the Russian propaganda agency RIA Novosti reported the death of Rostislav Zhuravlyov. Their report specified that Zhuravlyov fought against the Ukrainian army in the ranks of the occupiers in Donetsk oblast in 2014.
RIA Novosti photojournalist Konstantin Mikhalchevsky, "Izvestiya" correspondent Roman Polshakov and his cameraman Dmitry Shikov were wounded by shelling near Pyatykhatky village in Zaporizhzhia oblast.
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