“Journalists can do a lot to bring our colleagues’ release from russian captivity closer,” investigative journalist Oleh Baturin

The frequent facts of domestic media workers being held in russian captivity, the specifics of their work in the occupied territories and the front-line zone, and journalistic solidarity, which helps them stay in the profession, were discussed during a working meeting of the Journalists’ Solidarity Center‘s (JSC) employees with the well-known Ukrainian investigative journalist/former russia’s prisoner, Oleh Baturin. The media worker, originally from the temporarily occupied town of Kakhovka in the Kherson Region, lived with his family in Ivano-Frankivsk during the full-scale war. Ivano-Frankivsk journalists and master’s students of the relevant department of the Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University also joined the conversation.

“Our communication, the opportunity to talk about what hurts you, or, in the end, even just to meet and chat – it gives a powerful psychological relief. During the war, in my opinion, it helps a lot to many people, not only those who have experienced some very traumatic period. We are all traumatized by the war and live in constant stress. So, the opportunity to meet with those you trust and chat with is a necessity for many of us. And here, at the Journalists’ Solidarity Center, among colleagues, I also feel it,” said Oleh Baturin.

The Kherson journalist told his colleagues how, due to his journalistic activities, he ended up in captivity of the occupiers and what trials he had to go through behind the walls of captivity. He called on the entire media community to publicly talk, in particular, about such not infrequent facts of the kidnapping of our colleagues and their holding in captivity. According to verified data from the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU), at least 30 civilian media workers are in russian captivity at the beginning of this year.

“Journalists can do a lot with their work to help free their colleagues from captivity by the occupiers: write about it, publish on all the platforms they work on. We cannot directly participate in any negotiations, we cannot physically influence our enemies, but we can, with our daily work, bring closer the moment when our media workers will be released from captivity and when the russians will be punished for their crimes. We can influence this with our work, with our words,” urged Oleh Baturin.

Coordinator of the Ivano-Frankivsk JSC Viktoriya Plakhta recalled her first exciting meeting with a Kherson colleague, which took place in Lviv. It was after his release from captivity that Oleh and his family managed to leave their native occupied Kakhovka and move to temporary residence in western Ukraine.

“In April 2022, during a meeting at the Lviv JSC, my colleagues and I listened with excitement to your story about what you had to go through. Your dedication to the profession deserves high respect. We are pleased to cooperate with you in our Center to hold joint meetings and thematic events. I am sure that together we will do many more good things for the development of our domestic journalism,” Viktoriya Plakhta noted, addressing Oleh Baturin.

In the context of cooperation and journalistic solidarity, the participants of the meeting discussed holding a number of events on the basis of the Ivano-Frankivsk JSC. In particular, next month, Oleh Baturin will conduct thematic training sessions for students of specialized departments of universities in Ivano-Frankivsk. Also, soon an extensive interview with journalist Oleh Baturin will be published on the pages of the Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Union of Journalists and the School of Journalism on the FB network.

NOTE. The Ivano-Frankivsk JSC holds meetings, friendly conversations, thematic events, and various initiatives almost every day, aimed primarily at providing comprehensive support to media professionals in their profession.

The network of Journalists’ Solidarity Centers is an initiative of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, implemented in collaboration with the International and European Federations of Journalists and UNESCO and with the support of the People of Japan. Our primary goal is to assist media professionals working in Ukraine during the war. The Centers are active in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipro, Lviv, and Ivano-Frankivsk. The project is part of UNESCO’s broader efforts to support the Safety of Journalists and Freedom of Expression in Ukraine.

Call the Ivano-Frankivsk JSC at 066 677 0726 (Viktoriya Plakhta, coordinator of the Ivano-Frankivsk JSC). The Center’s address is 25 Sichovykh Striltsiv Street.

Bohdana Zasidko

Ivano-Frankivsk JSC