Ukraine strongly condemns the participation of several international media outlets in the propaganda tour to the occupied territories hosted by Russia’s Defense Ministry, Heorhiy Tykhyi, Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, wrote in an X post. He stressed that every participant of the tour had violated international law and Ukrainian national legislation by crossing an uncontrolled section of Ukraine’s state border and would face legal consequences, including entry bans.
The media that have taken part in the tour would face far-reaching implications for their reputations and operations in Ukraine and Ukraine will officially address the headquarters of all those outlets in their capitals, demanding an apology and an end to such conduct, the MFA spokesperson said.
“If Russian war criminals take you by the hand to the land they have stolen and caused immense suffering, just in order to present you with a fake facade—this is not journalism, but war crimes whitewashing,” he added.
Heorhiy Tykhyi stressed that in the course of its full-scale invasion Russia had committed over 800 crimes against journalists and media in Ukraine, yet this reality would not be shown to the foreign journalists joining the propaganda tours, becasuse Russia is a state of severe censorship
The Russian propaganda outlet Donetskoye Agentstvo Novostey (DAN) reported on 15 September an international delegation of media representatives had visited Ukraine’s occupied territories. The group included 10 people from eight countries: Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Slovakia, the USA, Turkey, France, and the Czech Republic. Among them are former Prime Minister of Slovakia Jan Čarnogursky, New Resistance president Rafael Muchado (Brazil), former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, who is now a university professor in Bangladesh, and One America News investigative journalist Pearson Sharp. DAN reported that the tour had been organised by a team led by the Russian propagandist, politician, and publicist Zakhar Prilepin as part of the Kremlin-affiliated project “Foreign Journalists for Russia”.
