Pro-Russia journalist gunned down in Kiev

Unknown gunmen have shot dead a leading Ukrainian pro-Russian journalist in the capital Kiev, Ukraine's Interior Ministry says. 

Oles Buzyna, well known for his pro-Russian opinion pieces published in Ukraine's Sevodnya daily, was shot dead outside his home in Kiev on Thursday afternoon. 

"Today at 13M20(1020 GMT) ... two unidentifiable men in masks shot journalist Oles Buzyna," the ministry said in a statement.

Sources say the journalist regularly appeared on Russian television to comment on the ongoing crisis in east Ukraine. In his interviews, Buzyna had also called for the federalization of Ukraine.

Buzyna, 45, a supporter of former president, Viktor Yanukovych, is the latest victim in a series of allies of the country's former pro-Moscow leaders to die under suspicious circumstances.

The death of Buzyna brings to five the number of Yanukovych’s allies found dead over the past two months.

Also on Wednesday, Oleh Kalashnikov, a former lawmaker loyal to Yanukovich, was killed in a similar attack at his home in the Ukrainian capital. Kalashnikov was a deputy for the Party of Regions in Ukraine’s previous parliament, and had reportedly attended last year's “Anti-Maidan” rallies in support of Yanukovych.

Yanukovych was ousted following Western-backed protests in February 2014 after he refrained from signing an Association Agreement with the EU in favor of closer ties with Russia. He moved to Russia after the overthrow.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday strongly denounced the latest killing as politically motivated.

"This is not the first political assassination. Ukraine is dealing with a whole string of such murders," Russian media outlets quoted Putin as saying.

Moscow has repeatedly accused the United States of staging a coup last year in order to topple the Moscow-allied Ukrainian president in Kiev.

The Moscow-Washington relations have cooled sharply after Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea joined the Russian Federation following a referendum in March 2014.

Relations were strained further after Ukraine launched military operations in mid-April 2014 to silence the pro-Russia protests in the country’s mainly eastern Russian-speaking regions.

Kiev, the US and the European Union accuse Moscow of involvement in the chaotic situation in eastern Ukraine and have imposed a series of sanctions against Russian and pro-Russia figures. Moscow, however, rejects the accusation.

Kiev and pro-Russia forces inked a truce deal in Minsk, Belarus, in February. Since then, both sides have, on numerous occasions, accused each other of violating the truce.

JR/KA/SS

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