Russian Channel One TV Cameraman Shot Dead in Donetsk

nsnbc : Russian Channel One TV cameraman Anatoly Klyan was shot dead while traveling with protesting Ukrainian mothers who drove to a military base in Donetsk to demand that their sons be relieved from military service. Troops loyal to Kiev opened fire injuring several and killing the Russian cameraman.

Channel One TV cameraman Anatoly Klyan. Image courtesy of Channel One TV.

Channel One TV cameraman Anatoly Klyan. Image courtesy of Channel One TV.

Reporters and cameramen from Channel One TV and other media were covering a group of women, most of them mothers, who drove to a military base in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk to demand their sons and loved ones be relieved from military service.

Ukraine had abolished the military draft under ousted President Yanukovich. The draft was reinstated by then coup-appointed interim-president Turchynov who also called for the general mobilization of Ukrainian troops, earlier this year.

When the bus arrived, shots were reportedly fired from inside the military base, injuring cameraman Anatoly Klyan. The Russian Channel One TV reported:

“Our colleague Anatoly Klyan died tonight…he was fatally wounded in the stomach. He was 68-years-old”.

The Ria Novosty news agency quotes the First Deputy Prime Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Andrey Purgin, as saying that Klyan died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. The driver of the bus was shot in the neck and is currently in hospital, Purgin added.

A crew from Channel One TV spoke with Russia Today journalist Maria Finoshina, who is currently in Lughansk, who conveyed what she learned about the incident, saying that the victim was filming with his crew at one of the military bases in Donetsk when the shooting took place. The RT website quotes Finoshina as saying:

“We know the journalists finished their work and they were smoking cigarettes at the moment when suddenly shooting started. It is very hard to say exactly who was firing, but we hear information that this particular bus and its passengers were targeted… The bus that was also carrying the mothers of self-defense fighters. They were heading towards this military base currently controlled by the Ukrainian military to start negotiations over their sons.”

Ukraine_Ukraine Conflict_Armed Groups

Armed groups in Ukraine. Click on image to enlarge.

It is uncertain who exactly was firing the shots, whether there were regular Ukrainian troops, National Guard, or so-called special regional military units consisting of Pravy Sector militants inside the base.

Armed forces operating in the Donetsk region include self-defense forces of the DPR, the Interior Ministry’s National Guard’s 25th Volunteer Battalion, and troops of the ADS Artemivsk, under the leadership of MP Oleg Lyashenko.

A ceasefire between Kiev and self-defense forces in eastern Ukraine expires at 22:00 (19:00 GMT) on Monday.

The Russian Foreign Ministry commented on the death of the Russian journalist in Ukraine, saying that Ukraine, finally, should fulfill its commitments in international law and human rights. The Foreign Ministry issued a strong statement saying:

“A cruel and absolutely illegal manhunt after Russian journalists continues in Ukraine. … Kiev military forces killed Russian TV Channel One cameraman Alexander Klyan in the city of Donetsk (east Ukraine) on June 30. … A car with journalists from TV channel LifeNews came under gunfire near a military unit, but they luckily succeeded to save from shooting. Unidentified offenders also opened fire at filming crews of TV channels Mir 24 and REN TV.

“Demands by Russia and other representatives of international community to Ukrainian authorities to conduct unbiased investigations of all attacks on our journalists and other assaults on civilians in the conflict zone are not satisfied yet.”

The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that it has become obvious that Ukrainian military forces are targeting journalists who are fulfilling their professional duty, demanding that Kiev stops the use of such methods as reprisals, the targeting as well as the torture of journalists.

Ch/L – nsnbc 30.06.2014

Source Article from http://nsnbc.me/2014/06/30/russian-channel-one-tv-cameraman-shot-dead-donetsk/

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