BFF-74 EU urges ‘swift, transparent’ probe into Russian journalist murder

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UKRAINE-RUSSIA-POLITICS

EU urges ‘swift, transparent’ probe into Russian journalist murder

STRASBOURG, France, May 30, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The EU on Wednesday urged a
“swift and transparent inquiry” into the killing of anti-Kremlin reporter
Arkady Babchenko in Ukraine, condemning it as a “cowardly crime”.

The prominent Russian war correspondent and former soldier who was shot
dead in Kiev on Tuesday was the latest in a series of Kremlin critics to be
killed in the Ukrainian capital in the past two years.

“This cowardly crime is another attack on press freedom, against
journalists who protect our values and our democracies,” European Parliament
President Antonio Tajani said.

“The European Parliament calls for total clarity on the death of Mr
Babchenko and for those responsible to be punished, along with the people who
ordered the murder.”

Babchenko was shot three times in the back and died en route to hospital
in a murder reminiscent of other attacks on prominent critics of Russia such
as politician Boris Nemtsov, who was gunned down near the Kremlin in 2015,
and journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was killed in Moscow in 2006.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said he was “convinced that
the Russian totalitarian machine” was behind Babchenko’s death, though Moscow
has denied any involvement.

A spokeswoman for EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini called for “a
swift and transparent investigation that brings those responsible for this
crime to justice”.

“The European Union stands in solidarity with journalists and will continue
to work to protect them and their work, which is vital to all democracies,
within and beyond our borders,” she said in a statement.

BSS/AFP/FI/ 1944 hrs