Today, on December 16, Head of the DPR Denis Pushilin handed over to federal media representatives the Republic’s state awards, which had been awarded to the Russian journalists who perished in the Donbass in 2014. According to the correspondent of the official website of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Anton Voloshin (1987–2014), Igor Kornelyuk (1977–2014) and Anatoly Klyan (1946–2014) were awarded the 4th degree St George Cross (posthumously) for the personal courage and heroism demonstrated while performing professional duty.
“Today we are honouring those journalists who laid down their lives in the land of Donbass when performing their professional duty. This spring, Andrei Stenin, a photojournalist who perished in August 2014, was awarded the 4th degree St George Cross (posthumously).
We have the opportunity to hand over to the representatives of Russian TV channels the awards to the journalists who were really brave people. They came here consciously and realized the danger this trip could pose. But, nevertheless, they came, performing their duty and conveying the truth about the conflict to the whole world. And for Donbass it was really important then and is still important today, because, unfortunately, the conflict is not over yet.
I would also like to mention Vsevolod Petrovsky, a Donbass native, who perished in Debaltsevo on February 8, 2015, when carrying wounded comrades away from the battlefield.
In general, I would like to say that the truth comes at a high price, and all of us can see and realize this. Donbass will never forget those who, through their actions, their deeds, the performance of their professional duties, were bending every effort for the conflict in Donbass not to be covered only from one side — by our adversary,” Denis Pushilin said.