Journalist's death prompts Russian outrage over Ukraine's alleged use of cluster bombs
War reporter's death prompts Russian outrage over Ukraine's alleged use of cluster bombs
Imagine breaking a treaty, invading a country, starting a war, using cluster bombs and then getting angry at the other guy for defending his country with cluster bombs.
Crocodile tears
The Tankies here are hilarious.
The "reporter" worked for RIA, a state-owned news agency. He was a propagandist, not a reporter.
There's no evidence he was killed by cluster munitions beyond Russia's statement. We've seen the accuracy of those from the beginning.
This is a consequence of Russia's own actions. They're to blame for all of this.
I see one comment kind of supporting the Russian reporter, and only about the tone of the comments. That's it. I really don't see anyone in this comment section really supporting Russia here.
I 100% agree that this is Russia's own fault. Don't put non-soldiers next to soldiers actively fighting in a war, because there's a good chance they'll be hit by enemy munitions.
There's one commenter defending Russia. It's more anti-Ukraine and implying Russia's innocence (saying they COULD do the same when they already do so much worse).
But it's really just the one posting a bunch.
They found a copy of Sims 3 along with a letter signed "Illegible" near the body so it had to be the Ukrainians.
Even if he was killed by cluster bombs, so what? He's a Russian on Ukraine soil. That doesn't make him a combatant per she, but it doesn't make him a innocent bystander either.
Regardless of the situation, a reporter mixed in with enemy combatants isn't going to get special protections.
Aww poor babies. Where was their outrage when Ukrainian civilians were killed by Russia's use of cluster bombs?
Come on now, let's be fair: I'm sure Russian military has killed plenty of journalists too!
Heck, bet he wasn’t even killed by US cluster bombs. Just propaganda.
"You're not allowed to attack us if we have a journalist with us. That's the rules. Now don't mind us while we use civilians as target practice." - Russia
.. but has no problem having snipers targeting UK journalists ..
Reporters in Russia are propagandists. There is no press freedom in that country, so if you work as a reporter, you are not fulfilling the role of a journalist, but a state sanctioned propagandist.
A Russian reporter in Ukraine might as well be a part of the armed forces.
I don't see why a Russian "journalist" needs to be anywhere near the action, it's not like accurate reporting is expected...
You realise that Russians could say the same thing about Western/Ukrainian reporters, right? I'm not making any claim here about whether any particular journalists are propagandists. I'm pointing out that your argument could apply universally. Hence the need for universal rules against killing journalists.
Man, the ability to individually block any and all traffic from whole lemmy instances can't come soon enough. The fewer authoritarian regime apologists oozing out of the cesspool of lemmygrad I have to yet manually block the better.
Your argument reduces to solipsism. There are very obviously differences in how press freedoms are handled in Russia versus the west. Your comment clearly implies that you want to bypass that conversation.
Except many countries do have freedom of the press. So no it can't apply universally.
Then fucking leave Russia. Stop hurting yourself for no reason.
Russian telegram channels reported without proof the death may be attributed to the way they conduct a documentation.
They group up with multiple other people, including soldiers, and stay as a group continuously. This is to control that nothing gets shown which should not be visible and have a tight control.
Apart from the lacking proof I am sceptical this would be required as this news agency is under full Kremlin control, but rational reasoning isn't required for this authoritarian government.
It's called 'embedding' journalists. It's a real problem.
Edit: struggling to understand why this would be down voted. I'm not making any kind of value claim. It's a matter of law that journalists who ride with soldiers are 'embedded' and the advice is not to do it because it's dangerous and makes things more dangerous for other journalists.
Thanks for informing about the right term for it!
There might be downvote bots etc. Never bother too much about the vote count on pages like these. Some communities in total, but at least certain discussions can quickly circle jerk. I'm reading also downvoted comments, because it could be a valuable perspective, even if it went against the flow.
Chances are he was shot the back of the head with a Tokarev and they blamed the cluster bombs.
Here is a summary of the law from the ICRC text, Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals in Time of Armed Conflict (emphasis added):
Using cluster munitions against a group of civilians is disproportionate. The group included at least four journalists. One killed, three injured. The killing was unlawful (even if the journalist was a propagandist).
The correct response is not to be joyful that a Russian journalist has been killed (i.e. on the grounds that Russia has killed journalists). It is to uphold the universal principal that all killing of journalists in wartime is illegal. Otherwise, all that gesticulating about the ‘international rules based order’ and all that outrage at Russian war crimes is just empty posturing. And justifying war crimes because the enemy has committed them renders the Geneva convention meaningless.
United Nations Security Council, Resolution 1738 (2006), 23 December 2006, supports the above description, and (emphasis added):
Reaffirms its condemnation of all incitements to violence against civilians in situations of armed conflict, further reaffirms the need to bring to justice, in accordance with applicable international law, individuals who incite such violence, and indicates its willingness, when authorizing missions, to consider, where appropriate, steps in response to media broadcast inciting genocide, crimes against humanity and serious violations of international humanitarian law[.]
Otherwise, all that gesticulating about the ‘international rules based order’ and all that outrage at Russian war crimes is just empty posturing. And justifying war crimes because the enemy has committed them renders the Geneva convention meaningless.
Yet it is meaningless in the context of nuclear countries. International law works more as a suggestion as you can't forcibly enforce it against country that just says no to you.
But yes if confirmed by 3rd parties that Ukraine is responsible for the death of the journalist in the manner Russian Foreign Ministry described there should be consequences.
These misanthropic comments are disgusting.
CNN* is an obvious US propaganda channel and yet we were all outraged when WikiLeaks revealed that US helicopter pilots gunned down fucking journalists in Iraq.
There are few rules in war.
You do not attack hospitals, first aid responders and journalists, for fucks sake. I don't give a fuck whose "side" this journalist belongs to. They are there to provide information of a battle field that would otherwise be lost.
When Russia attacked a hospital some time in 2022 after the war started, I was disgusted.
What has happened to you people. wtf.
I'm fairly certain the same people would be outraged at reports of Russia killing civilians. Apparently Russian civilians, and journalists at that, don't count.
Then they pretend shock when it is highlighted that dehumanising humans is part and parcel of fascism.
One could be forgiven for thinking that outrage over Russian war crimes is disguised happiness at yet another 'justification' for prolonging the war; it's clearly not motivated by a wish for ending the suffering.
Apparently Russian civilians, and journalists at that, don’t count.
Disgustingly, I have definitely heard people make that case with a straight face, look at all the people celebrating a Russian civilian being killed by a shark. They only care about warcrimes from The Other Team.
Rules in war? This entire war is already illegal. Russia shouldn't even be in Ukraine in the first place. And yes, if you're a frontline reporter, then it might happen that you end up in the crossfire, especially from artillery fire. Or do you think Ukraine saw some reporter through their drones and decided to target them? Stop being an apologist for Russia's aggression.
Edit: Also, Russia does not even have a free press, and with that they don't actually have reporters, but propagandists.
AFAIK he was standing right next to an MRLS shooting at the Ukrainian forces, and the Ukrainian forces shot back.
And I'm talking about desensitized comments almost cheering for and ridiculing the death of a Russian journalist (or evil propagandis, which makes it a-ok). Journalists know what they're signing up for when reporting out of war zones. It happens.
You still don't need to fucking be glib about it. That's all. I'm out of this discussion. You're all lost.
Oh no…. Anyway.
A reporter died? Russia’s just mad some else stole their kill.
I thought that Putin believes life is boring without war.
Not surprising, both side had been using cluster bomb from the beginning.
Sorry... just for the record - why was there a Russian war reporter in Ukraine again? Could it perhaps have anything to do with that war Russia caused in Ukraine? Someone please jog my memory for me.