-
Russian state journalist killed by stray bullet at Crimea base
Russian journalist, Svetlana Babayeva, working for a major Kremlin-backed media group died on Friday (Oct 28) in a shooting accident at a military training ground in Crimea, Russian-installed officials and state media outlets said.
The RIA Novosti news agency, a subsidiary of Rossiya Segodnya (RT), noted that Babaeva died “as a result of an accident at one of the training grounds in the Crimea, where she was engaged in military sports shooting.”
Babayeva was head of the Rossiya Segodnya media group's bureau in Simferopol, the second-largest city on the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Babayeva worked in Putin’s presidential pool, was the editor-in-chief of the propaganda site Gazeta.ru.
In 2004-2006, she headed the representative office of RIA Novosti in the UK, and in 2008-2012 she was the editor-in-chief of the agency’s bureau in the United States. She also worked as deputy editor-in-chief of the Moscow News newspaper, and editor-in-chief of the Profile magazine.
Propagandist Margarita Simonyan reacted to the death of Babayeva: “We discussed with her how we will develop in new territories yesterday. Oh, Sveta, Sveta, how can it be.”
Chechen leader Kadyrov admits high losses among own unit in Ukraine
Pro-Kremlin figures paid tribute to Babayeva in social media posts. Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian governor of Crimea, called her death an irrevocable loss.
"Svetlana did a great deal to convey to the public the truth about what is going on in Kherson region," said Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-backed head of Ukraine's southern Kherson region.
levantnews-agencies
