Ukraine puts US-based journalist on ‘kill list’ over reports from Crimea

The Ukrainian government has placed a US-based journalist on its “kill list” for alleged crimes against the country after a visit to the Crimean Peninsula, which joined Russia in a 2014 referendum.

Keir Simmons, an NBC News correspondent, was placed on the Ukrainian blacklist after he filed a report from Crimea, with the notorious Kiev-based Mirotvorets website labeling the journalist as a pro-Russian “propagandist” for reporting from the peninsula.

“Visiting the temporarily occupied Crimea from the territory of the Russian Federation is a violation of the legislation of Ukraine,” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said, adding that violators are subject to legal liability, such as being “banned from entering Ukraine for such actions.”

The Ukrainian website also published a photo of Simmons and his personal details, accusing the reporter of “violating Ukraine’s sovereignty,” participating in Russian propaganda, and “attempted legalization of the occupation.”

Simmons traveled to the Crimean Peninsula by train from Moscow across the Kerch Bridge, which he described as having been “blown up in a strategic and symbolic blow” to Russia last October, but is “now fully restored.”

The journalist then tuned in to an NBC newscast live from the Sevastopol port in Crimea, claiming it was “the closest any US news crew has got to the Russian Black Sea Fleet in many, many years.”

Simmons also expressed doubt about US officials’ hopes that Crimea would be “demilitarized” or taken by Ukrainian troops. He insinuated that Russia has somehow intimidated local residents, even though they explicitly told him otherwise.

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Mirotvorets, which was established in August 2014 and maintains ties with Ukrainian and Western security services, is a notorious website that posts private information of individuals labeled enemies of Ukraine without any process or trial.

Several prominent people were killed last year after the Kiev-based database declared them public enemies, including writer and historian Oles Buzina and politician Oleg Kalashnikov.

Western media outlets mostly ignored its existence until 2016, when Mirotvorets targeted dozens of journalists and human right activists for daring to operate in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics. The move drew condemnation from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which said it was “simply unacceptable for journalists to be threatened for what they say or write.”

“This kill list is maintained by the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior, which lists an address in Langley, Virginia, has an IP in Brussels, and which has marked off murdered targets, such as Darya Dugina, as ‘liquidated,’” tweeted American political activist Jackson Hinkle, who was also added to the blacklist on Wednesday.

Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, following Kiev’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements and Moscow’s recognition of the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

At the time, Russian President Vladimir Putin said one of the goals of what he called a “special military operation” was to “de-Nazify” Ukraine.

Moscow has repeatedly accused Ukraine of launching drone attacks on Russia since the onset of the military campaign.

Last December, Russia accused Ukraine of using drones to attack a number of military airfields inside Russian territory. Three soldiers were killed by the falling wreckage of a Ukrainian drone that intended to target the Engels strategic bomber airfield.

Moscow has condemned the drone attacks and other “terrorist acts” ordered by Kiev on Russian soil.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk