Russian state journalist killed at Crimea base by stray gunshot

• Svetlana Babayeva was the director of the Simferopol office of the Russian state-owned Rossiya Segodnya media conglomerate.
• She was killed by a stray gunshot.
• She was practicing shooting at a military training facility.

According to Moscow-installed officials and state media sources, a Russian woman journalist who was a member of a major Kremlin-backed media organization was killed in a shooting incident at a military training facility in Russian-occupied Crimea.

Svetlana Babayeva was the director of the Simferopol office of the Russian state-owned Rossiya Segodnya media conglomerate, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Simferopol is the second-largest city on the Crimean peninsula.

Babayeva was murdered by a stray gunshot while practicing shooting at a military training facility, according to RIA Novosti, a Russian news outlet and a division of Rossiya Segodnya.

The murder of the journalist was not further described. A number of Kremlin-friendly individuals honored Babayeva in social media messages.

The Russian governor of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, referred to her passing as an irreparable loss.

Vladimir Saldo, the head of Ukraine’s southern, largely Russian-occupied Kherson region, praised Svetlana for her efforts in informing the people about the reality of the situation there.

“I love you very much, Sveta,” wrote Maria Zakharova, the spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign affairs, on her Telegram profile.

The CEO of the Rossiya Segodnya media group, Dmitry Kiselyov, has been sanctioned by Ukraine, which refers to him as “the major figure of government propaganda backing the deployment of Russian soldiers in Ukraine.”

Kiselyov claimed Babayeva was a “kind person, who ardently supported Russia” and “wanted to encourage our heroes” in a statement published by RIA Novosti.

According to the news agency, Babayeva previously served as editor of the website Gazeta.Ru and as bureau chief for RIA Novosti’s British and American offices. Gazeta.Ru paid tribute to their late editor-in-chief, praising him as a “top caliber professional.”

Friday saw Russia further up its campaign against independent journalists by designating Natalya Sindeyeva, the president of the TV network Dozhd, and two other journalists as “foreign agents.”

The most recent list of “foreign agents” published by the Russian justice ministry included Sindeyeva, Vladimir Romensky, and Ekaterina Kotrikadze.

According to the ministry, the three were included as a result of their “political actions.”

TV Dozhd, which debuted in 2008 and covered Russia’s protests and opposition movements, was designated a “foreign agent” last year.

All of Russia’s major independent media channels, including Dozhd TV and the radio station Echo of Moscow, have either been shut down or have ceased operations.

Less than two weeks after Moscow invaded Ukraine, on March 3, Dozhd ceased operations in Russia and stopped transmitting from Russia.
On July 18, the broadcaster started up again from studios in neighboring Latvia.

Since the commencement of the conflict in Ukraine, Russia has passed legislation that carries a maximum 15-year prison sentence for spreading misleading information about the military, such as calling the invasion of Ukraine a war while the Kremlin has ordered that it be called a “special military operation.”

Руководитель «России сегодня» в Симферополе и экс-главред «Газеты.Ru» Светлана Бабаева погибла в результате несчастного случая

Трагедия произошла на учебном полигоне в Крыму, где журналистка занималась военно-спортивной стрельбой.

Наша редакция выражает свои соболезнования. pic.twitter.com/p99LAAqnLR

— Газета.Ru (@GazetaRu) October 28, 2022

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