Photographer of controversial Ukrainian combat photo ‘dismissed’

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Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense announced on Sunday Muravsky’s dismissal in a Sunday statement that said the “public reaction” to a series of Muravsky’s photos had led to Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak’s decision to dismiss him.

The controversy surrounding Muravsky’s photos–and if they were staged or not–is particularly sensitive as the Ukrainian government has sought to distance itself from any potential comparisons to its Russian counterpart, which has been accused of spreading propaganda in an effort to win over public perception in the now two-year-old conflict between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed separatists.

“The Ministry of Defense recognizes the work of [Dmitry Muravsky]. [The] Defense Agency has received a lot of his high quality and artistic design photos that were never considered by the Ministry as documentary or real war photos,” the statement said. “Ukraine has always adhered to the principle of uncompromising truth and transparency in its war against the Russian aggression, including Russian propaganda.”

Business Insider published an article featuring the images titled “Images from the front lines of Ukraine are a vivid reminder that there’s still a war going on in Europe” and then-Ambassador to Ukraine Geoff Pyatt tweeted the photos as “Amazing new images from the #Shyrokyne front of Ukraine’s forgotten war – outside #Mariupol.”

Muravsky had been hired on June 16 to help “establish the Information and Coordination Centre for volunteer photographers, cameraman, artists, filmmakers and scriptwriters” that would “allow them to create a high quality content” for Ukrainian armed forces, according to the Ministry of Defense’s statement regarding his dismissal.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/08/29/photographer-of-controversial-ukrainian-combat-photo-dismissed-from-duties/