Russian Media Coverage Of The Donetsk Attack On Pro-Ukraine Protesters
Clashes in Donetsk.
This is what we know happened in Donetsk on April 28: About 2,000 demonstrators gathered in the center of the eastern city for a march in support of a united Ukraine.
They were attacked by some 100 men wielding various accoutrements -- including metal rods, baseball bats, and truncheons.
How do we know this is what happened? Our reporters were there:
Your browser doesn’t support HTML5
Pro-Russia Militants Attack Ukrainian Unity March In Donetsk
But you don't have to take our word for it.
From the Global Post:
From "The Telegraph":
A short video report from ITV News:
It's usually not this simple. On April 27, when pro-Kyiv football ultras clashed with pro-Russian separatists there was clearly violence emanating from both sides. In the case of yesterday's events in Donetsk, however, the evidence of a largely one-sided attack appears to be overwhelming.
But Russian media has an altogether different story.
"On April 28, masked men shouting nationalist slogans attacked a [pro-Russian] anti-fascist rally. Several dozen radical [pro-Kyiv] activists began throwing stones at the [pro-Russian] procession. They also reportedly had grenades. Rebuffed, the attackers fled."
In linking to the report, Tikhon Dzyadko, a host for the liberal Russian Dozhd TV channel, said ITAR-TASS had gone from "continuing to lie" to "plain fantasizing."
"The [pro-Kyiv] radicals started to attack people, including passersby, beating them with bats," a report on the site said.
Meanwhile, Graham Phillips, a freelancer for RT, the Russian government's English-language outlet, said Western journalists were being overly simplistic in their descriptions of events.
Although he granted that the pro-Russia side was "just militant today," he said the pro-Kyiv demonstrators had a "peaceful and militant side." And he appeared to blame the "militants" on the Ukrainian side for purposely marching the demonstrators into a pro-Russian attack.
An RT report relied almost exclusively on Phillips' curated tweets -- excluding the one about the militant nature of the Russian side and another about hundreds of peaceful Ukrainians -- and on quotes from the press spokesperson of the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Donetsk, who told RT 1,000 "neo-Nazi thugs" had attacked peaceful pro-Russian protesters.
-- Glenn Kates, with reporting by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
