The head of the Simferopol department of Russian state television RT (Russia Today) and one of the most famous international journalists in Russia, Svetlana Babaeva, died in a military training camp in Crimea, where she was engaged in “sports shooting” , reported RIA Novosti.
According to official information, Babayeva died in an accident in a training camp. Neither the agency nor her colleagues specify at which test site the incident occurred. Russian sources indicate that she was killed by a stray bullet. TV center commentator Boris Kaimakov writes in rebound.
“Sveta, the tireless Sveta, is a top-notch professional with a brilliant journalistic biography. A friendly person who has suffered a lot for Russia. He rushed forward in his desire to support our heroes. A stray bullet.” , the press service of propaganda television quoted the words spoken to the general director of the company RT Dmitry Kiselyov.
“Only yesterday we talked about how we will develop in the new territories. Oh, Sveta, Sveta, but how come …” moaned the propagandist Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT, on Facebook.
🇷🇺 Propagandist Svetlana Babayeva, who headed Rossiya Segodnya’s Simferopol branch, died in temporarily occupied Crimea
Babaeva died of a “stray bullet following an accident in training camps in Crimea, where she was engaged in military sports shootings” pic.twitter.com/zjRSjroEH8– Mikhail Khodorkovsky (English) (@mbk_center) October 28, 2022
Babayeva’s death sparked a professional discussion among Russian journalists about whether or not the “pen fighters” can wield real weapons. Babayeva, whose departure for Crimea after following the news streams from world capitals is like sending Marshal Georgi Zhukov to Odessa, since she has the name of one of the most qualified internationals, wrote her colleagues, which she herself kept the political position “Crimea is ours” and dreamed, in the words of the Crimean occupation authorities, of becoming a true military correspondent and participating in military operations. A mandatory condition was to handle a firearm.
“When I was a ferryman for German television in Chechnya, I also learned to shoot and even wanted to buy a gun there. But the leader of the group, the famous German journalist Dirk Sager, an old friend of mine, almost sent me back to Moscow when he knew about my plans. A journalist has no right to use a weapon, otherwise he becomes, as it is fashionable today, a legal target. And we have stressed in every way that we were the press, this gave guarantees of security. Svetlana Babaeva could not fail to know these basic rules. She knew them, violated them and died ridiculously. And she was a talented journalist “, commented colleague Boris Kaimakov.
Babayeva, 50, graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Moscow State University “Lomonosov”, worked at “Moskovskie Novosti”, at “Izvestia”, was head of the RIA Novosti representative office in Great Britain , head of the corresponding point In the USA. She worked in the so-called presidential and governmental pool, which reflects the activities of the Kremlin, she was the editor-in-chief of “Gazeta.ru”, she reports Offnews.
