THE NATIONAL UNION OF
JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE
In March 2014, in connection with russia’s aggression in Crimea, the Ukrainian Service of Radio Liberty established a specialized project, Krym.Realii.
The main task of its journalists was to convey to the people of Crimea truthful information about the life of Ukraine and the world in the conditions when russia has set up an information blockade and spreads shameless fakes. Krym.Realii also aims to inform the world community about russian war crimes in Crimea, incitement of inter-ethnic and inter-religious enmity, violation of the rights of Crimeans, and the criminal occupation policy of the russian authorities.
In a short period of time, a journalistic team was formed, which began publishing the site in russian, Ukrainian, and Crimean Tatar languages, and later Krym.Realii radio and television newsrooms began to operate. Journalists had to work in difficult conditions. Independent journalists in Crimea have been subject to surveillance, harassment, obstacles in obtaining information from the occupation authorities, bullying in the pro-government press and on Crimean television, searches, and arrests. In connection with the complication of the situation, the newsroom of Krym.Realii had to move from Crimea first to Kherson and later to Kyiv.
The journalistic asset of the project deliberately remained in Crimea, and also used trips to Crimea as a source of information for reporting directly from the scene of events. Several dozen journalists gathered around the project, preparing materials for the site, taking photos, and communicating with readers. They had to work in semi-legal conditions. The FSB subjected the vehicle to external surveillance, special operations for wiretapping, removed information from computers, and put it on the list of Rosfinmonitoring as “extremists and terrorists.”
In April 2016, russia’s FSB in Crimea dealt a decisive blow to the Krym.Realii journalistic asset with the aim of eliminating the network of journalists gathered around the site. But the team was able to revive and strengthen. During the site’s existence, about 100 journalists worked in its editorial staff, more than 70 of whom were harassed and pressured, but most of them did not succumb to threats and remain an asset of the project to this day.
During this time, the site published thousands of analytical materials about russia’s crimes in the occupied Crimea. It gave a platform to many journalists who tried to tell the truth even at the risk of their own freedom. Materials of dozens of journalists who received information about Crimea during short-term business trips to the peninsula, as well as dozens of citizen journalists from Crimea, were and are being published on the website. The occupation authorities banned many authors from entering Crimea but were unable to establish a final informational veil. The team of the Krym.Realii project confidently fulfills its mission of realizing the “right of Crimeans to know everything.”
Over ten years, the three sites of the project – in russian, Ukrainian, and Crimean Tatar languages – have been visited by almost 230 million readers. YouTube channel Krym.Realii now has about 440,000 subscribers. During its existence, videos on it were viewed more than 247 million times and almost 14 million hours. Radio Krym.Realii also broadcasts its programs on YouTube. In addition, Krym.Realii radio programs are broadcast by the public broadcaster – Ukrainian Radio.
Krym.Realii is represented in most leading social networks and messengers. Telegram, given its popularity in Crimea, became a priority in the work of the project. In the last year alone, the Telegram channel of the Kyrgyz Republic was read by more than 77 million people. The Crimean team of Radio Liberty also prepares a weekly television program, Krym.Realii with unique content – in Ukrainian for national and regional TV channels of Ukraine and in russian for the international satellite TV channel Nastoyashchee Vremya.
The site provided a forum for the publication of materials to well-known activists, citizen journalists Irina Danylovych, Nariman Memedeminov, Nariman Dzhelal, Rustem Sheykhaliyev, Vilen Temeriyanov, Timur Ibragimov, Marlen Asanov, Server Mustafayev, Seyran Saliyev, Amet Suleymanov, Ruslan Suleymanov, Osman Arifmemetov, Remzi Bekirov, and other colleagues. Dozens of journalists are currently cooperating with the site, whose names are not published for security reasons. Their names will become known after the war and the de-occupation of Crimea.
Journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko, who made frequent trips to the peninsula to gather information, published up to a hundred text, photo, and video materials from the life of Crimea under occupation until he was arrested and thrown into a russian prison on a falsified case. The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), together with the newsroom of Krym.Realii, monitors the fate of Vladyslav and provides him with all possible assistance, demanding his immediate release.
Recognition by the russian authorities of Radio Liberty and its structural divisions in russia as an “undesirable organization” and the blocking of sites only testifies to the high efficiency of information work, including the Krym.Realii project, and is actually a recognition of the team’s merits in countering russian disinformation, evidence of a breakthrough in the information blockade.
In general, we believe that the Krym.Realii project has become an outstanding means of mass information in Ukraine over the past ten years, which, at the modern level, uses digital means in various forms to spread the truth about the russian occupation of Crimea and highlight other important topics. The project became an information pillar for patriotic circles in Ukrainian society, including in Crimea. In many cases, Krym.Realii is an example for other media in the practice of covering complex topics.
The NUJU congratulates the team of journalists and authors of the Krym.Realii website on its 10th anniversary and wishes for new creative heights, new successes in the fight against russian disinformation, in spreading true information about russia’s war in Ukraine, about russia’s violation of international law, the UN Charter, human rights, crimes against humanity.
NUJU President Sergiy Tomilenko
Kyiv
March 25, 2024
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