Maxim Eristavi: Sorry, foreign media - Your anger at Ukraine faking a journalist’s death is misguided - May. 31, 2018

Maxim Eristavi: Sorry, foreign media – Your anger at Ukraine faking a journalist’s death is misguided

Published May 31, 2018 at 8:37 pm

In this handout picture taken and released on May 30, 2018 by the Ukrainian Presidential press service, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (L) speaks with Russian anti-Kremlin journalist Arkady Babchenko (2nd L), head of Ukraine's security service Vasyl Grytsak (2nd R) and Prosecutor General Yuri Lutsenko (R) during a meeting in Kiev.Ukraine admitted it had staged the murder of Arkady Babchenko in order to foil an attempt on his life by Russia, a stunning development in a case that had attracted global headlines. / AFP PHOTO / UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / MYKOLA LAZARENKO / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Ukrainian Presidential press service / MYKOLA LAZARENKO" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Photo by AFP

Dear foreign journalists: Please don’t make the story of Arkady Babchenko about yourselves.

When I first took to social media to report that the Russian journalist and dissident had been killed, I received overwhelming support from foreign colleagues and readers. Then, about 20 hours later, I rushed to share the joyous news that he wasn’t dead after all. (In case you haven’t heard, the Ukrainian security services faked his death to thwart a reported plot to murder him. Ukraine now has two suspects in custody.)