April 24, 2015

Pro-Russian journalist killed in Kyiv

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KYIV – A prominent Ukrainian journalist known for his pro-Russian views was gunned down in Kyiv, a day after a former lawmaker loyal to ousted President Viktor Yanukovych was found dead in the city. The Ukrainian Internal Affairs Ministry said Oles Buzina was killed near his apartment block on April 16 by two masked gunmen. Mr. Buzina, 45, published opinion pieces in Ukraine’s Segodnya daily newspaper supportive of Russia’s policy toward Ukraine. He ran in last year’s elections for a parliamentary seat for the Russian Bloc party, but was not elected. The killing followed the death of Oleh Kalashnikov, a former member of Parliament for the Party of Regions, who was found dead at his home overnight with gunshot wounds. An Internal Affairs Ministry adviser to President Petro Poroshenko linked the deaths, pointing out that both victims had taken part in the Anti-Maidan movement to counter the pro-Western protests in Kyiv that ousted Mr. Yanukovych in 2014. “It seems the shooting of witnesses of the Anti-Maidan affair continues,” the adviser, Anton Herashchenko, said in a Facebook post. Russian President Vladimir Putin referred specifically to Mr. Buzina’s death in a televised call-in show on April 16, describing it as a “political assassination.” (RFE/RL, with reporting by Reuters, UNIAN, TASS and Ukrayinska Pravda)

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