A Finnish citizen who runs a conspiracy website that defends Russia’s war against Ukraine is advising a committee in Kremlin-occupied Donbas that reviews accreditation requests from foreign journalists.
Janus Putkonen, 40, first visited eastern Ukraine in March as the chief editor of Finnish-language Verkkomedia, which he set up in April 2011 as an alternative news source that publishes conspiracy theories. Since its founding, Verkkomedia has consistently criticized the United States and NATO, and defended Russia against what it says are conspiracies by the West.
Since arriving, he founded the English-language DONi Donbass international news agency, appointing himself as chief editor.
Responding to a Facebook message from the Kyiv Post, Putkonen admitted assisting the Donetsk press center when they have concerns or problems with foreign journalists.
“That’s why the press center exists,” Putkonen said.
Janus Putkonen, 40, went from being chief editor of a Finnish-language news website that focused on conspiracy theories to the chief editor of an English-language news service in Russian-occupied Donbas. Putkonen also helps Russian-separatist authorities screen foreign journalists.
The news website that he edits posts extremely short articles uncritical of the self-proclaimed authorities in Donetsk but highly critical of Ukraine, its military and the government in Kyiv. It has also repeated in articles dubious claims by separatists, including one that “black-skinned mercenaries” are fighting on the side of the Ukrainian armed forces.
Putkonen’s arrival in occupied Donbas coincides with heightened restrictions for reporters wishing to receive accreditation to report from the separatist-controlled parts of Ukraine. Reporting deemed to be “incorrect” by the pseudo authorities in the parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts that they control can mean a journalist is stripped of their accreditation.
According to Olga, a spokeswoman for the Donetsk separatists who refuses to give her full name, the committee that the Finn advises was set up because “a lot of media produce biased reports that are considered anti-(separatist) propaganda.”
“We only allow objective, genuine media,” she said.
As a journalist, Putkonen has covered only the Russian-separatist side of the war in Ukraine, and his videos have been widely used in pro-Russian propaganda. He also produced a documentary entitled “The Truth about Maidan,” which strongly criticizes the Ukrainian government, which he said had forsaken the true ideals of the popular uprising that led to the ouster of ex-President Viktor Yanukovych and his disgraced regime.
Writing about the creation of the DONi news agency in a posting on Verkkomedia on Aug. 8, Putkonen said the agency aimed “to produce locally and internationally interesting news, coordinate international news work in the region, to conduct humanitarian aid programs and to strengthen civil activism all around the world.”
“Western media … are spreading material that for political reasons is distorted and biased. They lie about the real nature of affairs,” Putkonen wrote.
Finnish journalist Nina Leinonen, who has reported from the Donbas for Finnish newspaper Iltalehti, confirmed to the Kyiv Post that Putkonen had reviewed her application for accreditation in the separatist-held part of Ukraine – and that it had been denied.
Writing in an article in Iltalehti published on Aug. 18, Leinonen said the self-proclaimed authorities’ press agency refused to grant her accreditation because her articles were too pro-Ukrainian and that she had used the word “separatist.” She was also accused her of “distorting history” by using the word “annexation” when referring to Russia’s invasion and subsequent annexation of the Ukrainian territory of Crimea via a sham referendum in March last year.
When Leinonen’s assistant in Donetsk called to the press center to complain, she was told the agency had reviewed three of Leinonen’s articles from last fall and that they hadn’t been satisfied with her work, the journalist wrote in her article.
She then met with Putkonen to discuss the matter, and said that he had told her that the decision wasn’t based on any one article, but that “an information war was now going on,” and “only the Russian-separatist side is telling the truth.”
He said he was not personally in charge of granting accreditation, but that he makes the recommendations on which the decisions are based. He also said that people like Leinonen would not be allowed to work in Donetsk, the article reads.
Speaking to the Kyiv Post on Aug. 19, Leinonen said Putkonen had confirmed to her that the use of the word “separatist” was disapproved of by the Russian-separatist pseudo authorities.
“He asked why the number of separatist casualties was not being reported, and I told him the figures were not available anywhere,” Leinonen said. “The case of Crimea seemed really important to Putkonen, who insisted that it hadn’t been annexed. He (also) said the siege of Debaltseve took place before the Minsk agreement and thus didn’t violate it. He accused me of re-writing history.”
Leinonen said that before her meeting with Putkonen, another person from the press center in Donetsk had told her that they would be granting accreditation to “loyal, (but) not to objective journalists.”
“If Janus (Putkonen) is consistent in his policy, it will be impossible for Western journalists to access the Donbas now, since no Western media is willing to call the annexation of Crimea a liberation,” she said.
Writing on Facebook late on Aug. 18, shortly after the publication of the article by Leinonen in Iltalehti, Putkonen confirmed he had met with the journalist to discuss her application.
“After … meeting this warmongering keeper of lies, who revealed me her bad nature, spare yourselves – disregard this pure trash and boycott this trash (newspaper),” Putkonen wrote.
In the comments section of the Facebook post, Putkonen also confirmed that he had reviewed Leinonen’s application for accreditation, which was later refused.
“It’s true. I was asked to review the case and I’m here to help against injustice. The authorities were really interested to know what was going on because Iltalehti’s reporting has been a matter of concern…” Putkonen wrote in reply to a question from another Facebook user.
Responding to questions from the Kyiv Post put to him via Facebook, Putkonen repeated his accusations against Leinonen and Finnish newspaper Iltalehti.
“On a daily basis I have seen completely inappropriate, tendentious and unfounded writing from (Leinonen) and Iltalehti regarding me. Their allegations about me are made up and have no foundation in reality,” Putkonen told the Kyiv Post.
Although little else is known about the criteria Putkonen uses for recommending or denying accreditation, there are other indications that the pseudo authorities are indeed monitoring the output of reporters writing for a range of media, including the Kyiv Post.
A local journalist in Donetsk, who insisted on remaining anonymous because of personal safety fears, told the Kyiv Post that “the (Russian-separatist) authorities have read material in the Kyiv Post and are very unhappy.”
However, the journalist didn’t name the specific material that had angered the press center in Donetsk.
“Just be careful,” the journalist said.
Kyiv Post reporters have since been refused accreditation to work in the Russian-controlled parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast.
Kyiv Post writer Antti Rauhala can be reached at [email protected] and Stefan Huijboom can be reached at [email protected].
