• On Monday May 30, the state agency Tass published its version of the death of the BFM TV journalist killed in Ukraine, explaining that he could be "qualified as a foreign mercenary", quoting an officer of the separatist Republic of Lugansk (LRP).

  • According to Reporters Without Borders, this is the first time that a killed journalist has been targeted in this way by Russian propaganda since the start of the conflict.

  • The elements of the article are “pretty classic propaganda”, explains Jeanne Cavelier, head of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia office of the association.

Such outrageous misinformation on social media.

In the wake of the death of Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff, killed on Monday May 30 in eastern Ukraine while accompanying civilians on board a humanitarian bus, Tass, the Russian press agency, published a very different version.

The BFMTV journalist, who had worked for the channel for six years, is presented as a "mercenary".

The state agency cites a pro-Russian officer from the separatist Lugansk Republic (LPR) to back up its claim.

"He is not only presented as a journalist," says Andrey Marochko.

Even Ukrainian media claim he was a volunteer.

So we do not rule out that he was engaged in the delivery of weapons and ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces.

That's why he was doomed to such a tragic end.

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"I couldn't call him a journalist because his actions indicate that he has a different activity," adds the officer.

He can be called a foreign mercenary.

It can be said with certainty that he was an accomplice of the Ukrainian far-right forces.

We have seen that these volunteers help the Ukrainian troops – they deliver ammunition which is used to kill civilians.

“At the end of his article, the agency still relays the words of Emmanuel Macron, who is moved by the death of the young journalist.

FAKE OFF

Eight reporters have been killed doing their job since the start of the conflict, and for Reporters Without Borders (RSF), this is the first time a journalist has been targeted in this way.

The elements of the article, such as quoting a representative of the LPR, are "fairly classic propaganda", explains Jeanne Cavelier, head of the Eastern Europe and Central Asia office of the association.

Disinformation is spread by borrowing "a small percentage of truth" or by using "other people's words to spread propaganda", she continues.

But there, “it goes even further, she is indignant.

We are totally in the shameless lie.

It is unacceptable.

“In a message broadcast by BFM TV, the mother of Frédéric Leclerc-Imhoff wanted to react to” this press release which gives nausea “: “You are cowardly trying to clear yourself, but know that you will never succeed in smearing his memory, she writes.

Everyone here knows his professional and personal commitment to democracy, human respect and above all free, impartial and honest information, all notions that seem far removed from what drives you.

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“A new form of storytelling”

For Kateryna Dyachuk, head of the freedom of expression observatory at the Institute of Mass Information (IMI), a Ukrainian association for the defense of the press, "the Russian media spread this type of disinformation against foreign journalists, because they have been using a new form of narration for two or three weeks, where Russia is fighting against NATO and no longer only against Ukraine”.

IMI also tells us that the Ukrainian media refer to Frédéric Leclerc-Imloff as a journalist and not as a "volunteer", contrary to Tass' version.

“The Kremlin also has relays in Ukraine, adds Jeanne Cavelier.

What is called the media are often bloggers who plead for Putin's vision of the conflict.

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“A war where information is itself a target”

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the IMI has recorded "280 crimes" against the media, ranging from journalists killed, kidnapped, missing, threatened with death to cyberattacks against news sites.

The Ukrainian media were particularly targeted, 113 of them having had to stop their publication or distribution, particularly in the occupied regions, such as Donetsk, Lugansk, Kharkhiv.

Reporters Without Borders denounces a war against information waged by the Kremlin.

Since February 24, the association has documented more than 50 attacks that can be qualified as war crimes targeting journalists and the media.

She has filed five complaints with the International Criminal Court and the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.

“It is a war where information is itself a target, where broadcasting equipment is bombed, where journalists are not only targeted as such, but are also kidnapped, tortured, threatened, even executed” , said Christophe Deloire, secretary general of RSF, in a press release.

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