The Ukrainian journalist Aleksei Bobrovnikov was born in 1979 in Kiev. He has published numerous short stories and essays in various publishing houses and weekly magazines in Ukraine. His latest book “The Edges of Georgia” was published in 2015 by the Ukrainian publishing company Kharkiv, which is an affiliated company of Bertelsmann Verlag. Furthermore, he worked as a scriptwriter on the documentary “Katyn: Letters from Paradise”, which attracted a lot of attention in Poland and Ukraine. The Donbas region has been an embattled area since 2014 and a meeting place for smugglers, money launderers and organized crime across national boundaries since Ukraine Soviet exit. In order to stop the shift of weapons, tobacco, fuel, gold, and other lucrative goods to Ukraine and Russia, Kiev installed a special troop. Since then, the head, as well as several members of this unit, have been killed. As early as 2014, Bobrovnikov has reported on the Majdan protests in Kiev. Since 2015, he investigated smuggling routes in the contested Ukrainian region Donbas. In the course of this research, he identified involvement of the 92nd Brigade, a Ukrainian elite unit, in smuggling with Russian military and separatists. As a result, Bobrovnikov was threatened multiple times, even in front of the camera. Even the military publically required his death. The officer Leonid M. posted on Facebook: “You have to die. Faster than you think.” His main witness, a Ukrainian investigator, who had also been researching the smuggling, was murdered in an area controlled by the 92nd Brigade. The results of the research have never been evaluated by the Ukrainian military department of public prosecution in Kiev. Aleksei Bobrovnikov worked for the TV station 1+1, which is owned by a well-known oligarch. His editorial office increased pressure on Bobrovnikov in order to prevent him from investigating. In June 2016, he was forced to quit his work at the TV station. For several months, he submerged in Western Ukraine. Even during this period, he was threatened. In September 2016, Bobrovnikov was informed, that the Ukrainian military service was planning to murder him. He then left Ukraine in a hurry. From January 2017 to February 2018 Aleksei Bobrovnikov was a scholarship holder if the Hamburg Foundation of Politically Persecuted. Currently, he is working on a book about smuggling in Eastern Ukraine. Since February 2018, Aleksei Bobrovnikov is a scholar of the Writers-in-Exile Program of the PEN-Center in Germany.

Bobrovnikov Oleksii


The Ukrainian journalist Aleksei Bobrovnikov was born in 1979 in Kiev. He has published numerous short stories and essays in various publishing houses and weekly magazines in Ukraine. His latest book “The Edges of Georgia” was published in 2015 by the Ukrainian publishing company Kharkiv, which is an affiliated company of Bertelsmann Verlag. Furthermore, he worked as a scriptwriter on the documentary “Katyn: Letters from Paradise”, which attracted a lot of attention in Poland and Ukraine. The Donbas region has been an embattled area since 2014 and a meeting place for smugglers, money launderers and organized crime across national boundaries since Ukraine Soviet exit. In order to stop the shift of weapons, tobacco, fuel, gold, and other lucrative goods to Ukraine and Russia, Kiev installed a special troop. Since then, the head, as well as several members of this unit, have been killed. As early as 2014, Bobrovnikov has reported on the Majdan protests in Kiev. Since 2015, he investigated smuggling routes in the contested Ukrainian region Donbas. In the course of this research, he identified involvement of the 92nd Brigade, a Ukrainian elite unit, in smuggling with Russian military and separatists. As a result, Bobrovnikov was threatened multiple times, even in front of the camera. Even the military publically required his death. The officer Leonid M. posted on Facebook: “You have to die. Faster than you think.” His main witness, a Ukrainian investigator, who had also been researching the smuggling, was murdered in an area controlled by the 92nd Brigade. The results of the research have never been evaluated by the Ukrainian military department of public prosecution in Kiev. Aleksei Bobrovnikov worked for the TV station 1+1, which is owned by a well-known oligarch. His editorial office increased pressure on Bobrovnikov in order to prevent him from investigating. In June 2016, he was forced to quit his work at the TV station. For several months, he submerged in Western Ukraine. Even during this period, he was threatened. In September 2016, Bobrovnikov was informed, that the Ukrainian military service was planning to murder him. He then left Ukraine in a hurry. From January 2017 to February 2018 Aleksei Bobrovnikov was a scholarship holder if the Hamburg Foundation of Politically Persecuted. Currently, he is working on a book about smuggling in Eastern Ukraine. Since February 2018, Aleksei Bobrovnikov is a scholar of the Writers-in-Exile Program of the PEN-Center in Germany.


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