Pro-Russia journalist shot dead in Kiev
NEWS DESK (DİHA) - Oles Buzyna, a former editor-in-chief and one-time parliamentary candidate, was killed on Thursday by shots fired from a passing car.
A pro-Russian journalist was shot dead outside his home in Kiev on Thursday, just hours after a prominent opposition politician was murdered under similar circumstances in Ukraine’s capital. The two murders come after a series of apparent suicides among former supporters of Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted as president by last February’s Maidan revolution.
The spate of deaths have led to fears of a witch-hunt against supporters of the old regime, but Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko immediately declared the two murders part of a “deliberate provocation” aimed at destabilising the country.
Journalist Oles Buzyna was murdered by two masked people at 1.20pm local time, according to the police. The suspects then drove off in a car with either Belarussian, or Lithuanian number plates, they said.
The previous evening, a former MP and supporter of Yanukovych, Oleh Kalashnikov, was also shot dead just outside his apartment. In the days before his death, Kalashnikov had told friends he was receiving “threats of physical destruction”. Police said they are looking into several potential motives in Kalashnikov’s murder case, including his political activities, his business and debts, as well as his personal relations.
Ukrainian politicians were quick to insist the murders were provocations intended to undermine the pro-western government.
(nt)
