Centrum Stosunków Międzynarodowych - 20 July 2016: Foremost journalist of Ukrayinska Pravda killed by a blast

Today in morning hours the car Pavel Sheremet was driving, exploded in the centre of Kyiv. According to the information of Ukrayinska Pravda, the car blew up on the corner of Bohdana Khmelnytskoho and Ivana Franka at 7:45 am. The car belonged to the founding editor of Ukrayinska Pravda Olena Prytula, a long time friend of Sheremet."The reports from the site are that Pavel Sheremet died as a result of the detonation of an explosive device. This is murder,” claimed Ukrainian Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko.

Pavel Sheremet was a tireless critic of kremlin and Lukashenko’s Belarussian regime. "I'm in shock, I don't know what to say, it is a matter of honour for the police to investigate the case," the head of the national police force, Khatia Dekanoidze, told reporters. "I will personally take charge of the case.”

Pavel Sheremet was born and raised in Belarus. He worked in banking sector before becoming a journalist. He worked at Belarusian television, but since a feud with the president Lukashenko regime, arrest, and a conditional sentence, Sheremet moved to Russia where he worked at ORT TV channel. Sheremet was a news anchor for Russia’s main news program Vremia [Time]. He was a recipient of the 2002 OSCE Prize for Journalism and Democracy.

Pavel Sheremet lived in Kyiv since 2011, working for various Ukrainian media, despite being a journalist of Ukrayinska Pravda, he was a host on Radio Vesti and other TV and radio channels.

The history of violence towards reporters on Ukraine is long, the founder of Ukrayinska Pravda Georgiy Gongadze, was an investigative journalist, murdered 16 years ago. The incident was a spark that widely helped to bring on Ukraine's Orange Revolution. His body was found decapitated in a forest on outskirts of Kiev.