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Just a quick note on a story whose details are still trickling out from various sources. Arkady Babchenko, a well-known journalist and hellraiser-in-exile was shot to death in at his apartment in Kyiv.
Babchenko first gained prominence as a war correspondent: a veteran of both Chechen wars (early 90s and early 00s), he wrote a gritty memoir about his time in the service, published in English as One Soldier’s War. During his time as a journalist, especially at independent journal Novaya Gazeta, he became known as an outspoken opponent of the regime, finding himself in legal trouble for promoting unsanctioned protests, and often pushing against the boundaries of public decorum. Nor was his journalistic provocation limited to Russia: in 2014 he was beaten and arrested in Istanbul when reporting on protests there. Death threats against him and his family finally drove him into exile in 2016, after certain members of the government called for a revocation of his citizenship for comments he made about the Tupelev crash into the Black Sea earlier that year. He remained a prominent and vocal opponent of Russian intervention in Ukraine.
For more, Haaretz has this very in-depth profile on his complicated and too-short life.
Some English-language reactions from various Russia/East European journalists online:
Update: two extra pieces of information from kalmoth in the comments below: first, a social media comment that Babchenko recently left describing the daily threat of violence against him and his family, which gives some insight into the place Babchenko found himself in his last days. Second is his chilling final post celebrating his “second birthday”: exactly four years ago to the day, Babchenko was forbidden to board a helicopter that ended up crashing and killing 14 people.
Wednesday, May 30, 2018 · 4:07:35 PM +00:00 · pico
Babchenko is actually alive because it a stunt to prove something. Fuck everything. This is a stupid timeline and we’re all stupider for it. Christ. People have cut Babchenko a lot of slack over the years because of what he went through during the war, but this? I can only imagine what his friends — who clearly didn’t know about this ahead of time — are feeling right now. Apologies to everyone here.
Wednesday, May 30, 2018 · 4:11:33 PM +00:00
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pico
So they’re saying that this was part of a special investigation to track down the people who posted death threats against him and HOLY SHIT HE APOLOGIZED TO HIS WIFE FOR PUTTING HER THROUGH THIS DOES THAT MEAN HE DIDN’T TELL HER EITHER? Man oh man.