Russian propagandists’ website reports on killing of civilians in Ukraine

At least 10 articles condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine have appeared on the website of the Kremlin-aligned news outlet Komsomolskaya Pravda (KP) on the evening of 11 February. Source: Meduza, a Latvia-based Russian media outlet, citing Prodolzheniye sleduyet (To be continued) project Details: Among the headlines of these articles (which are currently deleted) were the following:

• Crimea is Ukraine.

  Russia must give the peninsula back

• Russia has become a victim of occupation by Putin's regime
• The Russian Federation committed crimes in Bucha, Izium and Hostomel
• The Kremlin regime released convicts with weapons
• Peace does not come because of Putin: Zelenskyy signed a decree banning talks with Putin personally
• Torture of Navalny: How political prisoners are treated in Russian prisons

At least some of the publications began with the following words: "The material was not approved by the editorial board of Komsomolskaya Pravda and is aimed at exposing the lies of the Kremlin regime led by the bloody dictator Putin and his gang of cynical thieves in power who committed genocide against civilians in Ukraine".

The articles were posted by Vladimir Romanenko, a news editor at KP. Prodolzheniye sleduyet project posted his monologue. The journalist said that he was 24 years old and that he was against the war, but in September 2022 he had to accept a job at KP because he needed money.

Romanenko said that he posted texts criticising the authorities as an action to mark the anniversary of the beginning of the war, and the managing editor wrote to him saying that she "did not expect this" and blocked him on Telegram. The journalist called his actions "atonement".

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Quote: "I decided to dedicate my statement to the one-year anniversary of the outbreak of the war: during my work shift, I simply uploaded publications that describe the crimes of the Russian government and troops in Ukraine to the administrative version of the site.

[Articles] About the number of civilian casualties. About how many people the Russian army has actually lost in this war and about how much money Putin is pumping into the war. I wrote all of them myself, based on official data from Ukrainian government agencies and materials published by independent Russian and Western media.

<...> For me, such a step is a leap into the abyss. I'm looking for some kind of job; I don't have much savings left. But I see it as atonement.

In my opinion, being left without a job is proportionate payback for my lying. I apologise to the people of Ukraine for taking part in all this. My statement is about the fact that there are people in propaganda who still resist.

I hope that the staff of other Kremlin-aligned media outlets will notice my action."

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