SBU explains why they stripped a Danish journalist of accreditation
The accreditation of the Danish journalist Matilde Kimer has been canceled for violating the UAF Commander-in-Chief's order No. 73 (March 3, 2022). "Detector Media" reports this, citing the Security Service of Ukraine.
The journalist's arrival in Mykolaiv in July 2022 was the reason for the accreditation being canceled, a source in the SBU says. "There, she ended up in a place she shouldn't have been and tried to film a report on the weapons that can't even be talked about," the source said.
After this incident, the SBU employee claims, the military asked the SBU to check the journalist themselves. After the inspection, the SBU recommended that the UAF Public Relations Department revoke Kimer's accreditation.
"We also have data that suggests she had been to the occupied parts of Ukraine, namely in Crimea and Donetsk / Luhansk oblasts, violating the Ukrainian legislation," the source said. They also confirmed that Kimer had met with SBU representatives on December 8 in Kyiv. During the meeting, the source claims, the journalist asked how she is to work without accreditation, and was offered to use the information provided by "official sources, such as the SBU", as other foreign journalists who cannot be at the front do.
Matilde Kimer confirmed to "Media Detector" that in July she was in Mykolaiv, somewhere she should not have been. "We didn't film anything, we didn't do anything – we just ended up where we shouldn't have been. I hoped that this issue had been resolved, because i kept doing reports with the military for two days after that, and no one had any complaints of me," she said.
According to the journalist, she was offered to "cooperate" with the SBU in exchange for them considering restoring her accreditation. She was also accused of illegally staying in the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts and in Crimea. Kimer denies these accusations.
As IMI reported, on December 21 it became known that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had canceled the accreditation of Matilde Kimer, correspondent of the Danish public television and radio company DR, on August 22.
The journalist only managed to meet with the representatives of the special service in December. According to her, at the meeting, she was informed that the media content made by her contained pro-Russian propaganda.
As IMI reported, in November, multiple media persons had their work permits canceled and their press cards invalidated by the Defense Ministry after working in liberated Kherson. Later, accreditation for working on the front line and in the de-occupied territories was first restored to those editors and journalists who had applied for their restoration.
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