NBC journalist added to Ukrainian âkill listâ

NBC News correspondent Keir Simmons has been placed on the Ukrainian state-linked âMirotvoretsâ (Peacemaker) blacklist for âcrimesâ against the country. The government in Kiev has also announced it is investigating the British journalist after he filed a report from Crimea on Tuesday.
âVisiting the temporarily occupied Crimea from the territory of the Russian Federation is a violation of the legislation of Ukraine,â Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said on Wednesday. Violators are subject to legal liability, such as being âbanned from entering Ukraine for such actions,â he added.
Meanwhile, the Mirotvorets website has published a photo of Simmons and his personal details, accusing the reporter of âviolating Ukraineâs sovereignty,âparticipating in Russian propaganda, and âattempted legalization of the occupation.â
Simmons traveled to the Crimean peninsula by train from Moscow, across the Kerch Bridge, which he described as having been âblown up in a strategic and symbolic blowâ to Russia last October, but is ânow fully restored.â
He then tuned in to an NBC newscast live from Sevastopol, claiming it was âthe closest any US news crew has got to the Russian Black Sea Fleet in many, many years.â Speaking with NBCâs Andrea Mitchell, Simmons expressed doubt about US officialsâ hopes that Crimea would be âdemilitarizedâ or taken by Ukrainian troops.
Simmons also insinuated that Russia has somehow intimidated local residents, even though they explicitly told him otherwise.
The US government has not yet commented on Ukraine targeting a journalist from a major corporate outlet. Neither has the UK, even though Simmons is a British national.
Mirotvorets, which claims to be based in âWarsaw, Poland and Langley, Virginiaâ â the headquarters of the CIA â is a notorious website that posts private information of individuals labeled enemies of Ukraine without any process or trial. It was established in August 2014, as Kiev launched its âanti-terrorist operationâ against civilians in Donbass, and allegedly maintains ties with Ukrainian and Western security services.
âThis kill list is maintained by the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior, which lists an address in Langley, Virginia, has an IP in Brussels,â saidAmerican political activist Jackson Hinkle, who was also added to the database on Wednesday. Hinkle noted that Mirotvorets celebrated last yearâs assassination of Russian journalist Darya Dugina, which US intelligence has reportedly blamed on sections of the Ukrainian government.
Several prominent people were killed after the site declared them public enemies, including writer and historian Oles Buzina and politician Oleg Kalashnikov. Western media outlets mostly ignored its existence until 2016, when Mirotvorets targeted dozens of journalists and human right activists for daring to operate in the Donetsk and Lugansk Peopleâs Republics. The move drew condemnation from the OSCE, which declared it âsimply unacceptable for journalists to be threatened for what they say or write.â
More recently, Mirotvorets has targeted Croatian President Zoran Milanovic, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, retired US diplomat Henry Kissinger, and rock musician Roger Waters, for deviating from the official narratives about the conflict. The US and its allies have continued to send weapons and money to Ukraine, claiming Kiev is fighting for âdemocracyâ and âfreedom.â
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