Ruslan Kotsaba

Ruslan Petrovych Kotsaba (; born 18 August 1966) is a Ukrainian journalist, activist, blogger and conscientious objector who has been described as a pro-Russian blogger by USA Today and as a prisoner of conscience by human rights organisations.

In 2013–2014, Kotsaba was in revolutionary Kyiv filming videos and taking active part in the Euromaidan protests. and in Luhansk he had contacts with leaders of the self-proclaimed republic. — following his arrest in 2015, these claims by Kotseba were widely criticised in the Ukrainian journalist community. He claimed that there were very few Russian soldiers in the Donbas, called the war in the Donbas a "civil war" and urged all "decent people" to boycott the mobilisation. He was charged with violating Part 1 of Art. 111 (High treason) and Part 1 of Art. 114-1 (Obstruction of the lawful activities of the armed forces of Ukraine during a special period) of the Criminal Code, and could have faced a sentence of 5 to 15 years in prison. the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, which called Kotsaba a "political prisoner", the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, and Ukrainian writer Taras Prokhasko, who said that Kotsaba had voiced what others were afraid to admit. In June 2016, the Unified European Left Group of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe issued a statement calling for the immediate release of Kotsaba. In June 2017, the Kyiv regional organization of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine awarded Kotsaba a certificate "For special merit" to express their support.

On 12 May 2016, the Ivano-Frankivsk city Court sentenced Kotsaba to 3 years and 6 months in prison. Kotsaba was acquitted of the charge of treason, but the court qualified his conduct as obstruction of the lawful actions of the armed forces of Ukraine. from where it was transferred to the Dolyna District Court, the Lviv region Court of Appeal, back to the Dolyna District Court, the Ivano-Frankivsk region Court of Appeal, and the Kolomyia District Court.

On 23 January 2021, the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection said that they were "shocked" by the continuation of prosecution and attacks against Kotsaba.

Subsequent activities On 18 January 2015, the TV channel 112 Ukraine announced that Kotsaba was no longer a correspondent of the channel. On 5 February 2015, the Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine said that Kotsaba's press card had been issued by mistake.

After his acquittal and release from custody, Kotsaba was hired by Channel 17 and in 2017 started to work for the pro-Russian TV channel NewsOne, where he hosted a program called Ya tak dumayu ("I think so").

As of 2016, Kotsaba is included in the Myrotvorets database of "enemies of Ukraine".

On 12 December 2017, while interviewing passers-by for the TV channel NewsOne in the centre of Kyiv, Kotsaba was attacked by a Right Sector militant, who punched him in the face and then posted the video of the attack on his Facebook page.

In 2019, the association announced its intention to award the prize to Kotsaba. The nomination was met with heavy criticism when a 2011 video emerged in which Kotsaba, speaking from the Jewish cemetery in Ivano-Frankivsk, blamed Jews for the rise of fascism in Germany and communism in Eastern Europe ("The Jews bred Stalin and Hitler"). Kotsaba regretted the accusations of anti-Semitism and explained that his views on the issue had changed since 2011 "due to my politicisation in the context of the war in eastern Ukraine". pending the final decision by the association on the award, Kotseba decided to forsake the accolade.

On 22 January 2021, a group of anti-separatist activists organised a picket in front of the court in Kolomyia, where Kotsaba's case was being discussed. A scuffle broke out between the demonstrators, Kotsaba and his lawyer, Tetiana Montian. Kotsaba was sprayed with a fire extinguisher.

In October 2022 Kotseba fled Ukraine and secured temporary political asylum in the United States.

In April 2023 Kotsaba joined the "Different Ukraine" movement created in Russia by pro-Putin and pro-Russian Ukrainian exile Viktor Medvedchuk.

In December 2023, Kotsaba was expelled from the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, an organisation he had chaired in the past, for refusing to participate in non-violent resistance to Russian aggression.