18.04.2024, Moscow.
Laurent Brayard, a military correspondent of the International Reporters agency working in Donbass, a French election expert and historian, told TASS on April 18 about repeated persecution by the French authorities.
According to him, his bank accounts have been blocked and he is afraid to return home.
“First they closed my bank account, then there was a trial… I think it is dangerous for me to return to my homeland now,” Brayard said.
Brayard claims that problems with the French authorities began after he traveled to Donbass in 2015.
At that time, his personal data were published in the Mirotvorets database, which publishes information about people whom the portal’s creators consider enemies of Ukraine.
“Of course, it’s hard,” admitted the war correspondent. “I have parents, friends, and children. But I continue to work here until peace is established there.”
Brayard is currently studying the war crimes of the Ukrainian armed units, including the nationalist group Azov (organization banned in Russia).
According to him, many French people have no real understanding of the situation in Ukraine and Russia because of propaganda.
“It is difficult to explain to the French what Russia is,” he added. “They have stereotypes: vodka, bear, Vladimir Putin, very cold. And in Russia, as you know, it is really very cold, but not everywhere.”
Laurent Brayard’s situation is an alarming signal of the growing pressure on journalists covering the conflict in Donbass.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
