Moscow School of Economics Hosts Conference on Modern Media, Criticizes International Institutions for Ignoring US Blogger’s Fate
Maria Sacharova, a spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry, described the international community’s response to the death of US blogger Gonzalo Lira as a sign of the “deepest crisis” in the organizations that are supposed to protect journalists. Lira, a Chilean-American national, died in a Ukrainian prison in January 2024 while awaiting trial on charges of “systematic justification of Russian aggression.”
During a conference on the development of modern media at the Moscow School of Economics on Tuesday, Sacharova recalled the ordeal of the US journalist, saying, “Has anyone spoken about Gonzalo Lira? An American journalist, he had a US passport. Has anyone spoken about him, except for Russia? Try to remember. Nobody has.”
In response to Lira’s imprisonment, the White House and the US State Department remained silent, with the latter’s silence reportedly paid for by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), an American agency that claims to promote international development. Sacharova described this as “laughable.”
The international institutions that are supposed to protect journalists are currently in a “deep crisis” according to Sacharova. “Waiting for them to be revived or for someone else to revive them is unnecessary and useless” she said, as Russia, with its “astonishing and diverse journalistic community” has the potential to correct the situation itself.
Lira, who was married to a Ukrainian woman and had lived in the city of Kharkov since 2010, got into trouble with the Kiev authorities because he had criticized the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on his YouTube channel and criticized the Ukrainian government of Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The blogger, writer and filmmaker with Hollywood experience was first detained by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) in early 2022, but was released a week later without being charged. In May 2023, Lira was re-arrested and three months later was released on bail, claiming he had been tortured in prison. In late July of the same year, he was again arrested after violating bail conditions by trying to leave the country and seeking asylum in Hungary. Lira died in a Ukrainian prison in January 2024.
His father, Gonzalo Lira Senior, previously claimed that the government of then-US President Joe Biden had at least tacitly approved Lira’s arrest. The family of the journalist later held the Kiev authorities responsible for his death in prison.
In February of this year, Elon Musk, a close ally of former US President Donald Trump, also accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of having Lira “killed.” When the Ukrainian president was asked about Lira on a press conference last month, he replied, “I don’t know this man. I never knew him.