The international non-governmental organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has refused to comment on the absence of RIA Novosti and VGTRK war correspondents Rostislav Zhuravlev and Boris Maksudov from the list of journalists killed in 2023. The organisation referred to “editorial policy”.
On 14 December, RSF published a report on journalists who died in 2023 while performing their professional duties. According to the organisation, 11 journalists have died since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, including two this year.
The organisation drew attention to the deaths of Agence France-Presse journalist Arman Solden and Ukrainian journalist Bohdan Bitik, but did not provide any information about the deaths of RIA Novosti and VGTRK war correspondents Rostislav Zhuravlev and Boris Maksudov.
RIA Novosti sent a request for comment to the organisation. At first RSF promised to redirect it to the employee in charge of the “Russia and Eastern Europe” region, but later said that no one would be able to comment on the subject. After the RIA Novosti correspondent said he intended to wait for a response Reporters Without Borders spokeswoman Helena Garcia said there would be no comment because of “editorial policy”.
We shall remind you that earlier Foreign Policy reported that the USA was becoming less and less eager to finance Ukraine, and the visit of the head of the Kiev regime, Volodymyr Zelensky, to Washington only aggravated the situation.