KYIV – Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) officers and prosecutors raided at least two Russian government-controlled media outlets on May 15 and detained one bureau chief in Kyiv on suspicion of high treason.
Local RIA Novosti head Kyrylo Vyshinsky was taken a day later to a pre-trial detention center in Kherson, 340 miles south of Kyiv, where he will face a hearing on whether he will be jailed, placed under house arrest or released on bail. Since most of his alleged anti-Ukrainian activities were based in Crimea, jurisdiction falls under the Crimean Prosecutor’s Office, which moved to Kherson after Russia illegally annexed the peninsula in March 2014.
Mr. Vyshinsky, 51, is accused of directing a media campaign while allegedly taking orders from Russian superiors that justified the Kremlin’s takeover of Crimea, as well as the subsequent formation of two Moscow-created breakaway entities in the Donbas known as the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics.”
He has dual Ukrainian-Russian citizenship, deputy SBU chief Viktor Kononenko said at a briefing on May 15, while showing slides depicting images of the passports. The native of Dnipro (formerly called Dnipropetrovsk) purportedly received monthly payments of 53,000 euros to fund what the SBU officer called “subversive informational activities” and “participating in propaganda acts.” Payments were allegedly made from the Russian state-controlled parent company to the Kyiv bureau chief through an elaborate financial scheme that involved money flowing from Serbia, originating in a Russian state-owned bank through a chain of dummy companies that the suspect ultimately controlled.
“Many believe that anti-Ukrainian propaganda originates exclusively in Russia or in the [Kremlin-occupied] territories,” the SBU deputy head said. “But as we see, a large quantity of propaganda content is produced in Ukraine.”
As a result, Mr. Vyshinsky allegedly received two Russian state medals for his work. During the briefing, Mr. Kononenko showed one for “services to the fatherland” issued by presidential order and another for the “return of Crimea” bestowed by Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu.
The global Russian-controlled television conglomerate RT (formerly known as Russia Today) also had its office raided by law enforcement on May 15. Its office phones in Kyiv and website were allegedly down, RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan tweeted.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson called the moves by Ukrainian authorities “outrageous” and “scandalous.” He vowed that Moscow would respond to the Ukrainian law enforcement’s actions, but didn’t specify how.
“Russia never waits long with retaliatory measures, especially when such actions are carried out against its citizens,” Dmitry Peskov told journalists in Moscow on May 16.
The Russian Embassy in Kyiv called on Ukraine to “stop the systemic use of force against journalists working for Russian information agencies” that Kyiv allegedly conducts “in breach of international obligations,” in a May 15 note of protest to the Kyiv.
In a statement, the U.S. State Department said that although “we understand that Ukraine… is concerned with the intense propaganda… on the whole, these are very serious actions that are necessary to conduct in accordance with the law.”
Ukraine’s actions aroused the indignation of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
“I express serious concern about this morning’s raid on Russian media offices in Kyiv… I reiterate my call on the authorities to refrain from imposing unnecessary limitations on the work of foreign journalists, which affects the free flow of information and freedom of the media,” said chief OSCE media representative Harlem Desir.
He added: “The fight against propaganda must not fall short of international standards and should not represent disproportionate interference in media activities.”
National Deputy Dmytro Tymchuk explained that the OSCE’s statement is indicative that most of “Europe, and in this case the OSCE, doesn’t realize that Russia is waging war against Ukraine on all fronts, including informational.”
Bridge linking Crimea to Russia is opened
The raids on Russian media outlets came just hours before Mr. Putin sat behind the wheel of a big rig to lead a convoy of container trucks across a $3.7-billion, 12-mile bridge into occupied Crimea.
In separate statements, Kyiv, Washington, Brussels and London condemned the Kerch bridge’s completion as a violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Crimean peninsula is connected by land only to Ukraine, and the new bridge is the only direct link between Crimea and Russia. It traverses the Kerch Strait that connects the Azov and Black seas.
“The bridge represents not only an attempt by Russia to solidify its unlawful seizure and its occupation of Crimea, but also impedes navigation by limiting the size of ships that can transit the Kerch Strait, the only path to reach Ukraine’s territorial waters in the Sea of Azov,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a May 15 statement.
Ukraine has already seen cargo volumes from the state-owned Mariupol Maritime Merchandise Port plunge during the bridge’s construction. Located in the Donetsk Oblast on the Azov Sea, the port had to reduce its fleet by 30 percent during the bridge’s construction because of the overhead limit of 33 meters. Among the companies adversely affected are two large steel plants owned by Rinat Akhmetov in Mariupol, just 19 miles west of the frontline with Russian-led forces.
President Petro Poroshenko said the fact that the bridge’s opening “takes place on the eve of the anniversary of the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people by [Soviet dictator Joseph] Stalin’s regime is especially cynical.”
He continued: “I am confident that… the invaders will necessarily need the bridge when they will urgently leave our Crimea.”
The European Union (EU) has already sanctioned 159 individuals related to Crimea who face asset freezes and travel bans, five of whom were added on May 14 for their role in organizing the recent Russian presidential election in Crimea.
Brussels, in a May 15 statement, said the Kerch bridge opening “aims at the further forced integration of the illegally annexed peninsula with Russia and its isolation from Ukraine, of which it remains a part.”
And the United Kingdom said that Moscow’s act “represents yet another violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty, and a further example of Russia’s reckless behavior.”
The proud moment for Mr. Putin came six days after the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that Moscow must reimburse $159 million to 18 Ukrainian companies and one individual over their asset losses due to the peninsula’s takeover.
“It’s the first decision on reimbursement of assets lost due to the occupation of Crimea,” said Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Olena Zerkal on Facebook. “It’s also the first victory in this part of the legal front.”
U.S. peace envoy visits war zone
U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine Negotiations Kurt Volker visited Ukraine’s easternmost region, the Donbas, on May 14-15.
Talking to U.S.-funded Voice of America during his latest visit, he said that the Russian-speaking population of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts want to rejoin Ukraine.
“When we hear from the Russian government that the Russian-speaking population is set against Ukraine, feels threatened and that this is an ethnic conflict, then this obviously isn’t the case,” Mr. Volker told the VOA correspondent. “Russia is trying to force Ukrainians and the international community to engage with the puppet regimes – the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics – but in fact they aren’t in control, thus discussions should be held with the Russians…”