British Reporter's Diatribe at Maimed Captive Rankles Kyiv

2016/9/24 14:00:15

Photo: Controversial British reporter Graham Phillips

 


By Mike Eckel and Andy Heil for RFE/RL, Sep 23, 2016

 

As Graham Phillips tells it, back in the late 1990s as a Dundee University dual major in philosophy and history and a thespian performing under the stage name Brandon Reed, he saw his career either as journalism, or writing for the theater.

 

He appears, after stints in state-sector marketing and communications, publishing, and teaching, to have opted for both.

 

A British expat reporter and videographer who fancies himself a truth speaker out to redeem independent journalism in the fog of the Russia-backed war in eastern Ukraine, Phillips' critics describe him as a propagandist, plain and simple.

 

In his latest clip to have sparked outrage, Phillips uses his stilted Russian and two minutes of exclusive access (apparently granted by the separatists) to berate a badly disabled Ukrainian man moments before his handover to Kyiv authorities as part of a prisoner swap.

 

Subtitled in English, the video features Phillips climbing into a minivan marked with a red cross before Volodymyr Zhemchuhov is exchanged for several separatists.

 

Phillips accuses Zhemchuhov -- who lost both hands and his sight in a mine blast in September 2015, then spent a year in separatist custody -- of speaking like a brainwashed zombie and being not such a smart guy whose injuries came in a failed effort at sabotage. The latter charge echoes allegations made by separatists that Zhemchuhov was wounded while acting as a saboteur.

 

He also tells the prisoner that no one needs him anymore because he lost his arms.

 

Zhemchuhov, who describes himself as an educated man who is familiar with Phillips' work, responds to the Briton's taunts by calling him a traitor, pro-Putin propaganda scum.

 

For complete text of the article, link below:

http://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-graham ... s-reporter-/28008922.html

 

NOTE: When you punch up the remainder of the article, you will also be able to access a video of the controversial Phillips – Zhemchuhov confrontation.

 

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