The Embassy of the Russian Federation in Bucharest sent an open letter to the editor of Evenimentul Zilei. Worried about our answer, they will contact the MAE. To protect the right to privacy of a Russian officer killed in the invasion of Ukraine. In fact, it is an endurance test of the Romanian press.

The series of pressures exerted by the Russian Federation to delete an article published two months ago by Evenimentul Zilei continues.

An article in which, citing entirely external sources, presented the case of a Russian colonel killed in a firefight in Ukraine. A high-ranking officer who “died in a battle, as an officer with a gun in his hands, but we must admit that these hands are up to the elbows bathed in blood. He and his subordinates, under his orders, systematically terrorized the population of the Belgorod region, violated their rights and freedoms. Previously, Stesev killed civilians in Chechnya, Yugoslavia, Abkhazia and on the territory of Ukraine,“ said those from the Russian Freedom Legion at the time. In other words, a military man liable for war crimes, who found his end in the invasion of Ukraine.

What bothers Russia so much? Our answer

I said that we will not delete the article because the request addressed to the editor is inadmissible. Especially since it came from an institution of the Russian Federation, invoking the legislation of the Russian Federation. Mr. Ambassador Kuzmin, if you haven't found out, we are no longer part of the Socialist Camp, we are no longer part of the Warsaw Treaty, CAER, we no longer have a Daddy in the Kremlin that we have to take into consideration.

You should have remained diplomatically silent. Especially since we are talking about a Russian military man participating in an illegal aggression against a sovereign state, Ukraine. In fact, a criminal, because that is the only way a military man who kills unarmed civilians can be qualified.

Report on the atrocities of the Russians

In the Kherson case, “at least 36 victims interviewed by Ukrainian prosecutors mentioned the use of electric shocks during interrogations, often genital shocks, as well as threats of genital mutilation. One victim was forced to witness the rape of another detainee, the report states.

According to the report, those most likely to be subjected to torture were the military, but also law enforcement, volunteers, activists, community leaders, medical workers and teachers. According to the report, the most frequently used torture techniques were suffocation, waterboarding, severe beatings and threats of rape", according to an international report. I am convinced that in this case too the Russian Federation took care to respect their right to private life. A word of advice to the Russian ambassador: Next time you better sink in silence!

This time, an open letter was published on a pro-Russian propaganda website in Romania. In which we are notified that we will be the subject of a diplomatic approach. They only have Freedom of expression in Romania is much more important than a threat with a diplomatic note. But because they still felt the need to express themselves, we respect their right to reply.

We also send them a less diplomatic note: Say that we violated the right to privacy. Much less and not at all significant compared to what you are doing in Ukraine!

How can you consider yourselves diplomats and representatives of a democratic state when you are aware of the cases of Alexei Navalny, Sergei Skripal, Anna Politovskaia, Vladimir Kara-Murza, Aleksandr Litvinenko, Alexandr Perepilichnyy, Viktor Yushchenko, to name just a few some examples?

If I also tell you about Georgi Markov and the famous Bulgarian umbrella, full of KGB poison, I think they bring back pleasant memories for you, Mr. Ambassador. But perhaps the notion of conscience is not peculiar to Russian diplomats. And then, by way of consequence, arrogance and lying are part of the job description.

Reaction of the Russian Embassy to the article in the Event of the Day

"On June 5, 2023, on the "Evenimentul Zilei" website, Mr. Mihai Soica's article "Rebels have liquidated an important colonel of the Russian army" was posted. The senior military official was involved in an exchange of fire" (attached), in which without the consent of Mr. Andrei Stesev, the commander of the military unit of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, his name, first name, patronymic, photo, activity data were published professional and the copy of the officer's identity document. At the same time, the publication of personal data of Russian military personnel in the current situation means a direct threat against the physical security of their family members and those close to them. A convincing proof of this is the terrorist acts, organized by the Security Service of Ukraine on the territory of Russia, which led to the death of journalists Daria Dughina, Vladlen Tatarski, serious injury of the writer Zakhar Prilepin, as well as the death of his driver.

Upon the written request sent by Roskomnadzor, the Russian authority in charge of the field of personal data protection, to delete the mentioned personal data from the website https://evz.ro/, Mr. Dan Andronic, general director of "SC Editura Evenimentul si Capital" SRL reacted by posting a mocking article and some persuasive comments on social networks, in which for some unknown reason he qualified the request of the Russian side as a "threat" and "evidence of hypocrisy".

However, we would like to draw your attention to the fact that the right to the protection of personal and family life is guaranteed not only by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948, but also by the acts of the European Union. In particular, the right of any person to respect for private and family life, domicile and confidentiality of communications is enshrined in art. 7 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Art. 8 of the Charter directly states that any person (ie it is not only the citizens of the EU member states) has the right to the protection of personal data concerning him and that such data must be processed only on the basis of the consent of the person concerned. The right to the protection of personal data is guaranteed by art. 16 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Regulation (EU) no. 679 of April 27, 2016, as well as the Romanian legislative acts developed based on them, including Law no. 190 of July 18, 2018, according to which the Authority you lead acts.

Bearing in mind that in the present case the online edition "Evenimentul Zilei", by refusing to delete the personal data of a Russian officer, published illegally, flagrantly violates not only the norms of international law, but also the provisions of EU law and the national legislation of Romania, please take the necessary measures to ensure the right of citizen Andrei Stesev to the protection of his private life.

The copy of this address will be sent with an official Note Verbale to the Romanian MFA. Please accept the assurances of my highest consideration». We ask that this communication be considered as an open letter to "Evenimentul Zilei".