The renewal of the accreditation of famous Danish journalist Matilde Kimer or her re-accreditation for covering the events of the Russian-Ukrainian war is possible after a change in the stance of the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU).
This was said in a reply to respective request from the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) addressed to Head of the Public Relations Department of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) Bohdan Senyk. At the same time, the AFU indicates that more than 70 citizens of the Kingdom of Denmark have received the accreditation of the AFU, of them more than 30 are employees of the Public Broadcaster of Denmark, where journalist Matilde Kimer also works. She was stripped of her accreditation at the request of the SSU in September.
The NUJU received an appeal from the president of the Danish Union of Journalists, Tine Johansen, regarding the revocation of the AFU’s accreditation of journalist Matilde Kimer. The president of the Danish Union expresses her concerns about such a decision, which received a significant response in Denmark. This is due to the fact that Matilde Kimer is a well-known journalist in the country, a winner of professional awards and an experienced war reporter, who works in the editorial office of a public broadcaster and has been covering the war in Ukraine since 2014.
“In Denmark, a country that provides powerful military support to Ukraine in the face of the large-scale Russian aggression, public attention is focused on the case of Matilde Kimer. In particular, several materials were published by the specialized Danish publication Journalisten. At the same time, the Danish Union of Journalists sent a letter on this issue to the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the Kingdom of Denmark Mykhailo Vydoinyk. Minister of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, spoke in defense of the journalist. Also, a number of international partners – in particular, the European Federation of Journalists and the leading media of the Scandinavian countries – addressed the NUJU with inquiries regarding this case,” said the request of the NUJU addressed to the AFU.
In view of the significant international attention to the case, the NUJU requested to additionally consider all the circumstances related to the termination of the accreditation of the Danish journalist Matilde Kimer, to investigate the arguments of the European Federation of Journalists, the Danish Union of Journalists and the stance of the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to consider the possibility of submitting a new application for AFU’s accreditation by Matilde Kimer.
A corresponding request was also sent to Acting Head of the SSU V.V. Maliuk. The NUJU is convinced that the activities of authoritative foreign media workers contribute to broad international support for Ukraine in wartime conditions.
However, as Bohdan Senyk reported in the response to the appeal of the NUJU, “during the monitoring of the information space on the personal page of Matilde Kimer (the page is open and verified) on Facebook, discovered were a number of her materials, which suggest that the journalist had close cooperation with the ministry of defense of the russian federation. In particular, Matilde Kimer covered the large-scale exercises of the aggressor country Zapad-2017, Vostok-2018, was in the pool of media representatives who visited, at the invitation of the ministry of defense of the russian federation, the Russian military base and a battleship in Syria.
Besides, in 2017, Matilde Kimer visited occupied Donetsk, where she covered the parade of Russian occupation troops, and in 2016, she visited the occupied Crimean peninsula.
Currently, more than 70 citizens of the Kingdom of Denmark (almost 30 of whom are employees of the Danish public broadcaster) are accredited in Ukraine. They have the opportunity to document the crimes of the russian federation in Ukraine”.
NUJU Information Service
