Roman Dobrokhotov, chief editor of The Insider, was not let to be present at the press conference Russian president Vladimir Putin was giving on Thursday.
The journalist said on Twitter about his being barred by the Federal Guard Service an hour and a half before the event.
Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that 99.9% of eager journalists were admitted to the conference. According to him, only people suffering from ‘certain diseases’ and having criminal records were unwelcome.
“They said they would not let me to attend the conference, it is their ultimate decision. But it remains unclear why they accredited me). Well, being the only journalist who is not allowed to come to Putin press conference is a great honour, I guess. By the way, I have sent Chekists’s Day greetings to Putin in the shape of the latest [journalistic] investigation,” Dobrokhotov said.
In January 2018, the Federal Guard Service stopped Roman Dobrokhotov from participating in the Gaidar Forum. The journalist believes that the agency put him on the black list.
In September, The Insider and OSINT group Bellingcat published he results of its journalistic investigation regardingAlexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov whom the British authorities suspect of poisoning former Russian agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. According to the journalists, the real name of ‘Ruslan Boshirov’ is Anatoly Chepiga, a GRU Colonel and Hero of Russia, while ‘Alexander Petrov’ is GRU officer Alexander Mishkin in real life.
‘Petrov’ and ‘Boshirov’ denied their having any relation to the Russian special services in the interview with the Kremlin mouthpiece Russia Today. They claimed they visited Salisbury to see the sights, including the local medieval cathedral. Their clumsy statements and ridiculous explanations triggered a wave of jokes on the Internet.
- ‘Hero of Russia’: Alleged Skripal poisoner took Yanukovych out of Ukraine – Kanev
- Skripal case: FSB in search of whistleblowers
- Russia has no hand in Skripal case, US elections, killing Syrians – Putin to Fox News
КА, belsat.eu
