Some Russians in Ireland believe news coverage of the Russian invasion to be ‘fake’, Ukrainian-born barrister warns
15th March 2022
Some Russians living in Ireland choose to believe Russian state propaganda rather than independent news sources, a Ukrainian-born lawyer has claimed.
Criminal barrister Anna Bazarchina said she was shocked that some Russian friends considered coverage by the BBC and CNN of the invasion of her home country to be “fake”.
Ms Bazarchina, who moved to Ireland as a child in the 1990s and has practiced as a barrister since 2005, was speaking at an EU Bar Association Ireland seminar focussing on the international legal response to the invasion and suspected war crimes.
She paid tribute to Russians who had supported Ukraine and those who had protested against the invasion.
However, she added that discussing the situation with some Russian friend who have been living in Ireland for 15 years was “a very hard topic”.
“I was shocked to discover that despite being in a country where they have access to media, not only from Russia but BBC and CNN, they still believe that that information is fake and they only watch news from Russia,” she said.
Ms Bazarchina urged Russians to “be objective” and “watch everything” before coming to conclusions about what is happening in Ukraine.
Russian media is heavily censored, and President Vladimir Putin recently signed a law imposing sentences of up to 15 years on journalists who air what his administration terms “false information" about its armed forces.
This includes calling the “military operation” in Ukraine a war or invasion.
Ms Bazarchina told the seminar she has family in Odessa who were praying the city is not invaded and relatives in Kyiv who have decided to stay and fight.
Other family members, including two aunts in their 70s, have managed to flee.
“They are now here in Ireland feeling extremely anxious, wishing to return to their country, where all of their memories have been left,” she said.
Ms Bazarchina said she was thankful people in Ireland had “come together” to offer assistance. This included lawyers who have offered to provide pro bono assistance to refugees and NGOs.
Barrister David Fennelly, an assistant professor at the School of Law at Trinity College, said “some of the most flagrant violations of international law in living memory” were being seen and that recent events had raised serious doubts over the rule of law in international affairs.
Mr Fennelly highlighted the intentional directing of attacks against civilians and protected buildings such as schools and hospitals, and the use of thermobaric weapons and cluster munitions.
“Certainly, there is evidence here that war crimes and potentially crimes against humanity may have been carried out over recent weeks,” he said.
While the International Criminal Court (ICC) has opened an investigation, it would face “significant practical challenges” in bringing prosecutions, he told the seminar.
Mr Fennelly said not only was the threshold for investigating and prosecuting these crimes very high, but the ICC was also constrained in terms of the resources available to it.
“Then, of course, there are the practical constraints that may follow if the prosecutor does determine there is a reasonable basis for concluding war crimes have been committed,” he said.
“The prosecutor can apply to the pre-trial chamber for an arrest warrant, but the task of identifying and tracking down those responsible in this case is going to be a far from easy task, particularly when it comes to the senior leadership.”