Ukraine’s law enforcers have made their own spectacular contribution to “fake news” while destroying the remnants of their shattered credibility with a stunt to fake the murder of Russian journalist and Kremlin critic Arkady Babchenko.
And it was all led by the General Prosecutor Yuriy Lutsenko, who cannot solve a real crime, so he has to invent them to make himself look like he’s doing something. President Petro Poroshenko and Interior Minister Arsen Avakov appeared to be in the loop on the scam to catch Babchenko’s “killers.” They didn’t tweet anything accusatory after the state announced that Babchenko was shot in the back several times in his apartment in Kyiv.
But the state’s co-conspirators may have left Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman out of the loop: Groysman commented on the “murder” and accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ordering it.
After revealing that Babchenko was alive, Lutsenko smugly denounced members of parliament and politicians who publicly criticized the authorities for failing to prevent Babchenko’s death.
Now, nobody will believe what comes out of the mouths of state authorities, especially Lutsenko and Security Service of Ukraine chief Vasyl Hrytstak. Was there a conspiracy to kill Babchenko? Who says? Where’s the evidence?
Whatever was gained, far more was lost. Real and horrendous crimes happen routinely in Ukraine; rarely are they solved. Now when the next murder happens, who is going to believe it? Who is going to leap into action?
Journalists and law enforcers have enough real work to do in this nation without staging circus shows. Not only does law enforcement’s credibility take a hit, so does Babchenko’s own believability on anything in the future.
One journalist, Kevin Rothrock, wrote: “By lying to the media, Babchenko and the Ukrainian authorities have made fools of everyone who reported yesterday’s ‘murder.’ I apologize to all my followers for circulating what turns out to be total baloney. The lesson here is to distrust reports from Ukraine.”
That’s a bad lesson for the world to learn about Ukraine, especially as the country is regularly the subject of false reporting by Kremlin-controlled media. Several commentators were quick to point out the possible drawbacks of the SBU’s stunt.
One of them, independent security analyst Mark Galeotti tweeted that “this smacks of a gimmick by Ukraine. Next time there’s some killing, Russia will be able to play the ‘Do you know this is real?’ card. We’re told ‘the killer’ was caught. Stand by for an entrapment defense?”
Others demanded to know why the Ukrainian security service felt it had had to involve a journalist in its operation.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, an international watchdog of press freedom, wrote that “Ukrainian authorities must disclose what necessitated the extreme measure of staging news of the Russian journalist’s murder. CPJ is investigating this unprecedented situation and will have further comment once we have more details.”
Lutsenko has plenty of real crimes to solve: the theft of $40 billion under Yanukovych, the theft of $6 billion from PrivatBank by then-owner Igor Kolomoisky, the real murders in 2016 of journalist Pavel Sheremet and in 2000 of Georgiy Gongadze, the modern-day corruption implicating top officials and close associates of President Petro Poroshenko, and the dozens of murders of EuroMaidan Revolution participants on the streets of Kyiv in February 2014.
Sadly for Ukraine, he seems to prefer sideshows and sniping at his critics.
We rejoice at the fact that the journalist is alive and well. But we are concerned that the way this stunt was performed and the way it was communicated to the public will have adverse consequences, including for Ukrainian journalists who still face deadly dangers. The same law enforcement agencies that bragged about saving Babchenko have contributed to making this country unsafe for journalists in the first place – by consistently showing lack of dedication in investigating the attacks on them and through harassment of our legitimate work.
Ukraine’s security service, prosecutors, police and judges routinely show they are clueless about their proper responsibilities in a democracy or too corrupt to care.
