The motive for this killing is still unknown as the Ukrainian president purported that the Russia-backed separatists have been attacking the country on all fronts, and they might also be responsible.
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Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko announced that he had requested American assistance in order to maintain the investigation’s transparency and FBI officials were due to arrive in Kiev on July 21 or 22, the TASS Russian News Agency reported. He was harassed for his work in Belarus and even arrested in 1997 and 2004.
Outside that conflict, the most-recent killing of a journalist in Ukraine came in April 2015, when a writer who backed ousted-President Viktor Yanukovych was shot dead in Kiev.
Interior minister Khatiya Dekanoidze said in televised comments at the scene of the crime that she will personally supervise the investigation. The vehicle was owned by Olena Prytula, head of popular online newspaper Ukrainska Pravda, where Sheremet also worked. He received the Committee to Protect Journalists’ International Press Freedom Award in 1999 and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Prize for Journalism and Democracy in 2002. Ukrayinska Pravda’s chief editor Sevgil Musayeva-Borovyk told RFE/RL that Sheremet’s death is related to his professional activities, without elaborating.
“Our deepest condolences to the staff at Ukrainska Pravda and to all who knew and loved Pavel”.
Sheremet, a Russian national, died when his bomb-rigged auto exploded while he was driving. Sheremet worked for ORT at the time and the case caused a rift between Russian Federation and Belarus, with observers expressing the view that it was politically motivated.
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After stopping Russian TV due to alleged Kremlin pressure Sheremet had lived for five years in Kiev. However, colleagues at Ukrainska Pravda speculated that the blast may have been meant for Prytula, as investigative journalists at the outlet have been routinely targeted over the years. “Every time I go to Moscow, it’s like I’m in a minefield”, he said in an interview.
