An investigative reporter who helped to disclose the plot to kill Russian dissident Alexei Navalny says he has been “banned” from attending this weekend’s BAFTAs.
Christo Grozev seems within the 2022 movie Navalny, which is within the working for greatest documentary at Sunday’s awards ceremony.
It follows Mr Navalny – a longtime critic of Russian president Vladimir Putin – within the months after he was poisoned with nerve agent novichok in late 2020.
Grozev and Maria Pevchikh, head investigator for Mr Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, are filmed uncovering particulars that recommend Kremlin involvement within the assassination try – one thing the Kremlin has at all times denied.
In one scene, Mr Navalny, who has since been jailed in Russia, confronts one among his would-be assassins over the telephone.
Grozev wrote on Twitter on Friday: “I was surprised to discover that my whole family and I have all been banned by the British police from attending this weekend’s BAFTA awards where the documentary Navalny is nominated.
“The motive states: we ‘symbolize a public safety threat’.”
He added: “I perceive the necessity to preserve the general public secure (though I do not perceive how my son or teenage daughter represent threat to the general public).
“But moments like this present the rising risks to unbiased journalists all over the world.
“These dangers don’t stem just from murderous dictators but also from having journalists’ voices hushed – instead of amplified – by the civilised world they are trying to serve.”
Grozev, who’s the lead Russia investigator for information web site Bellingcat, faces hazard in numerous international locations.
Just days in the past, he advised the Financial Times that Russian assassins have been chasing him in his residence base of Vienna, with the assistance of native collaborators.
In December, it was reported by CNN that he had been placed on Russia’s “most wanted” checklist.
Alicia Kearns, chair of parliament’s international affairs committee, replied to Grozev’s tweets, saying: “I’ve raised (this) with ministers – you are not the security risk”.
A spokesperson for the BAFTAs advised Sky News: “The safety of all our guests and staff at the ceremony is always our highest priority and we have robust and appropriate security arrangements in place every year.”
Four others concerned within the documentary will attend on Sunday: producers Diane Becker, Shane Boris, Melanie Miller and Odessa Rae.
Sky News requested Met Police for remark and so they directed us to a tweet they’d written in response to Grozev, which mentioned: “For obvious reasons, we don’t give details of security arrangements or advice on Twitter.
“We’re in ongoing contact with BAFTA.”
Source: information.sky.com”