THE Russian war correspondent Andrei Babitsky died at the age of 57 at his home, in Donetsk, eastern Ukrainebroadcast today by local media and Radio Free Europe.
Babicki, a controversial figure, became famous when covered the two wars in Chechnya on behalf of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. He was captured by Russian forces and handed over to Chechen rebels, an exchange that was condemned by the international community.
“His reports provoked strong criticism from the Russian authorities,” the station said in a statement.
Following the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014, Babitsky vigorously defended the struggle of Russian-speaking separatists in eastern Ukraine, cut ties with Radio Free Europe, and in 2015 settled in Donetsk, one of the rebel strongholds. He wrote many articles criticizing Kyiv and its liberal positions.
According to the TV channel Oplot (“Bastion”) of the Donetsk Autonomous Region, where Babinski was presenting a show, the journalist “died last night in his apartment”. Other media reported that he was suffering from heart failure.
In 1987 he started working for Radio Free Europe and stood out mainly for his coverage of the 1991 coup. Between 1994-96, he covered the first Chechen war, denouncing the suffering of civilians and the actions of the Russian army. , topics that were silenced on Russian public television. In 2000, during the Second Chechen War, he was captured by Russian forces who later exchanged him for two Russian soldiers captured by Chechen rebels.
The United States has condemned the exchange, which aired on Russian television, on the grounds that Babitsky was not a fighter. The journalist himself, however, explained that he accepted it because that “would help release the captured soldiers”.
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