‘Trapped in Putin’s panic room’ – journalist receives Russian sanction

Some people might complain about receiving a speeding fine, or spilling your morning coffee… but how would you feel if you were sanctioned by Russian President Vladimir Putin?

WATCH – Exclusive interview with war correspondent Misha Zelinsky

Well, that’s the story for war correspondent Misha Zelinsky who received a warning from the Russian leader.

A massive list of 121 well-known Australians have been added to Russia’s blacklist, with the group “indefinitely” banned from the country.

The blacklist has been put together in response to “the growing sanctions of the Australian government, which apply to an increasing number of Russian citizens,” according to Russia’s foreign ministry.

“I woke up this morning, if you asked me earlier this year, what list I would likely end up with that included Gina Reinhart and Twiggy Forest, I knew it wouldn’t have been Australia’s richest 200 people, probably the least likely after that would have been Putin’s sanctions list,”

Misha told ticker NEWS

Misha is a war correspondent for the Financial Times, previously reporting in Ukraine as war atrocities unfolded before his eyes.

Now, Misha is banned from entering Russia.

Russia has accused the sanctioned figures of promoting a “Russophobic agenda”

Misha believes there’s a ‘tit for tat’ going on in regards to sanctions.

“Russians have been sanctioned all over the world, the wealthiest oligarchs are basically trapped in Vladimir Putin’s Panic Room nation. It’s a little bit a tit for tat going on. Russia is rich, Russians are stuck in Russia and unable to holiday, unable to go to London, unable to put their kids in private schools in Europe, versus people like myself are unable to travel to Russia, where you can’t get a Big Mac,”

Misha says.

“I’ll leave it up to viewers to decide who’s got the better deal there,” he jokes with ticker anchor Holly Stearnes.

However, jokes aside, Misha stands by the work he has complete in Ukraine, reporting on the horrific war.

“The biggest fear and concern I have is for people that are dying right now in Ukraine, myself, right now. I’m quite safe, and I’m feeling okay.”

Are journalist’s intimated by Putin’s power play?

Russia announced a similar move against dozens of British journalists on Tuesday, in what Moscow said was a response to Western sanctions and the “spreading of false information about Russia”.

Misha says getting reporting out of Russia, legitimate reporting has been extremely difficult for a very long time.

“You can’t really trust any social media or any reporting coming out of Russia in the sense that the government has enormous control of that information,” he says.

“There are ways to get information out of Russia, you get a lot of Intel out of telegram channels, and other websites. But I don’t think journalists are going to be intimidated on reporting the facts.”

So ultimately, Misha says people aren’t going to be intimidated from telling the truth here, “the truth is on your screens, it’s in your social media feed.”

“The truth is irrefutable that Putin and his cronies are committing war crimes every day in Ukraine, and every day that those stories get told is a critical one.”

The leaders of Europe’s three largest economies – France, Germany, and Italy have visited Ukraine, what does the war-torn country need right now? 

Misha says if you listen to the words of Ukrainian leaders, they say they’ll enjoy support they really need weapons, at the moment of fighting is very localised in the eastern part of the country and Donbas region is almost back to where it started in 2014.

The war reporter says some estimates have the artillery advantage to Russia at a 15 to one “so the Ukrainians are desperate for weaponry, they’re relying at the moment on old Soviet era weapons and the polish and other Warsaw Pact countries have been giving the weapons.”

He continues to say that “they’re running out of the shells that go into that weaponry, and they’re desperate for long and medium range weaponry out of the west out of NATO allied nations. And the promises are on the table.”

However, there has been a delivery gap there and the Germans have been held up as one example of not really meeting what they’ve promised.

So – what do we need to see next?

Misha says it comes down to closing the gap between what’s promised and what’s delivered.

“That needs to happen urgently, joining the EU would be nice, but ultimately not win yet. Candidate status, it’ll probably take 10 years before you actually went from being a candidate to fully integrated because it takes a very long time to synthesise your laws and your legal system and all the bits and pieces that go into joining the EU,” he says.