Kirill Valeryevich Vyshinsky (; ; born 19 February 1967) is a journalist. He was the director of

RIA Novosti RIA Novosti (), sometimes referred to as RIAN () or RIA (), is a Russian state-owned domestic news agency. On 9 December 2013, by a decree of Vladimir Putin, it was liquidated and its assets and workforce were transferred to the newly created ...

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

branch (2014-2018). In 2018, Vyshinsky was arrested in Ukraine on charges of treason. In September 2019 he was exchanged to

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

where he continued his journalistic career.

Biography

Kirill Vyshinsky was born in Dnipropetrovsk,

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

. He received a

Russian passport The Russian passport () is a biometric travel document issued by the Ministry of Internal Affairs to Russian citizens for international travel. This external Russian passport is distinct from the internal Russian passport, which is a mandato ...

in 2015. On 1 June 2018, after his arrest, he said in court: "I declare my withdrawal from my Ukrainian citizenship -- from this moment I consider myself only a citizen of Russia."

Journalistic and Social Activities

In 1996-1998, Kirill Vyshinsky became the editor-in-chief of the local Dnipropetrovsk Channel 11, which at the time, belonged to Prime Minister

Pavlo Lazarenko Pavlo Ivanovych Lazarenko (; born 23 January 1953) is a Ukraine, Ukrainian convicted criminal, international fugitive, and a former politician who served as Prime Minister of Ukraine from 1996 to 1997. Born in 1953 to a peasant family in southe ...

, and then came under the control of

Viktor Pinchuk Victor Mykhailovych Pinchuk (; born 14 December 1960) is a Ukrainian businessman and oligarch. As of January 2016, ''Forbes magazine'' ranked him as 1,250th on the list of wealthiest people in the world, with a fortune of US$1.44 billion. ...

. From 1999 to 2006, Vyshinsky was the lead editor on ICTV. In 2006, Vyshinsky became editor-in-chief of information services for the television and radio company Creative Production Association “Telefabrika”, and he was nominated as a candidate for deputy of the

Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Council The Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Council () is the regional oblast council (parliament) of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (oblast, province) located in eastern Ukraine. Council members are elected for five year terms. In order to gain representation in the ...

from the Dnipropetrovsk branch of the People's Party. From 2006 to 2014, Vyshinsky worked as a correspondent for the program "Vesti" in Ukraine. Vyshinsky covered the 2013-2014

Euromaidan Euromaidan ( ; , , ), or the Maidan Uprising, was a wave of Political demonstration, demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine, which began on 21 November 2013 with large protests in Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv. The p ...

protests and the

2014 Ukrainian revolution The Revolution of Dignity (), also known as the Maidan Revolution or the Ukrainian Revolution, took place in Ukraine in February 2014 at the end of the Euromaidan protests, when deadly clashes between protesters and state forces in the capit ...

After “Euromaidan”, Vyshinsky became editor-in-chief of

- Ukraine. On September 30, 2015, Vyshinsky, a Ukrainian citizen, became a dual-citizen after receiving Russian citizenship. Ukrainian law does not recognise

dual citizenship Multiple citizenship (or multiple nationality) is a person's legal status in which a person is at the same time recognized by more than one sovereign state, country under its nationality law, nationality and citizenship law as a national or cit ...

. However, since Ukraine became independent in 1991 there have been several (media) reports that there are citizens of Ukraine who hold dual citizenship.

Arrest, trial and exchanged to Russia

Vyshinsky was arrested in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

by the

Security Service of Ukraine The Security Service of Ukraine ( ; abbreviated as SBU [] or SSU) is the main Internal security, internal security agency of the Government of Ukraine, Ukrainian government. Its main duties include counter-intelligence activity and combati ...

(SBU) on 15 May 2018. On 17 May, the

Kherson Kherson (Ukrainian language, Ukrainian and , , ) is a port city in southern Ukraine that serves as the administrative centre of Kherson Oblast. Located by the Black Sea and on the Dnieper, Dnieper River, Kherson is the home to a major ship-bui ...

City Court ordered him held for two months on charges of high treason. He was accused that his news agency was involved in a "hybrid information war" waged by Russia against Ukraine. Since the 2014 annexation of Crimea by Russia

Russia–Ukraine relations There are currently no diplomatic or bilateral relations between Russia and Ukraine. The two states have been at war since Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, Russia invaded the Crimean peninsula in February 2014, and Russian-control ...

have been hostile.

OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media functions as a watchdog on media developments in all 57 participating member states of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). He or she provides early warning on violations ...

Harlem Désir Harlem Jean-Philippe Désir (; born 25 November 1959) is a French politician who served as leader of the Socialist Party (PS) from 2012 to 2014. First widely known as a community activist and as the first president of SOS Racisme in the 1980s, ...

expressed "serious concern". The Portuguese

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

Augusto Santos Silva Augusto Ernesto dos Santos Silva (born 20 August 1956) is a Portuguese sociologist, university professor, and politician who served as the President of the Assembly of the Republic between 2022 and 2024, in the 15th Legislature. From Novem ...

said about Vishinsky's case that he "condemns any attempts to arrest people for their political views."

Russian President The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the Federal State Council and the supreme commander-in-chief of the Russian Armed Forces. I ...

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

said he considered the arrest to be "absolutely unprecedented and absolutely unacceptable". The

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

"shares Ukraine's concern about Russian propaganda but added that Ukraine must ensure it abides by the law, including international human rights law." After his arrest, Vyshinsky was awaiting trial in Ukraine. On 28 August 2019 Vyshinsky was released from prison pending trial. On 7 September, Kremlin spokesman

Dmitry Peskov Dmitry Sergeyevich Peskov (, ; born 17 October 1967) is a Russian diplomat serving as the Kremlin Press Secretary, spokesman for President of Russia, Russian president Vladimir Putin since 2012.OSCE The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the pr ...

's media freedom representative

who had called for Vyshinsky's release. On 9 September 2019 Vyshinsky was appointed executive director of

Rossiya Segodnya MIA Rossiya Segodnya (; ) is a media group owned and operated by the Russian government, created on the basis of RIA Novosti. The group owns and operates Sputnik, RIA Novosti, inoSMI and several other entities. The head of the organisation is ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vyshinsky, Kirill Russian male journalists Russian propagandists Living people Prisoners and detainees of Ukraine 1967 births Naturalized citizens of Russia Ukrainian collaborators with Russia

Biography

Journalistic and Social Activities

Arrest, trial and exchanged to Russia

See also

References