Russian journalist literally barks at Ukrainian colleagues during Minsk peace talks

A Russian journalist from the pro-Kremlin media outlet LifeNews barked in the face of two Ukrainian colleagues today at Independence Palace in Minsk, as negotiations over the situation in eastern Ukraine got underway.

Ukrainian journalist Olga Koshelenko wrote about the incident on Facebook moments after it occurred: “And it’s true. Sasha from LifeNews jumped up to us and barked in our faces like a dog. It came quite naturally to him. Thankfully, he didn’t bite. Video [to come] later.”

Shortly thereafter, Koshelenko’s colleague, Yulia Yanchar, published video of the incident. In comments to Meduza, Yanchar confirmed that a LifeNews reporter by the name of Sasha really did bark in the faces of several Ukrainian journalists in Minsk.

And here it is again, literally from a different point of view.

LifeNews Chief Editor Anatoly Suleimanov later reported on his Twitter account that the man in the video is his agency’s own Alexander Yunashev.

Four-party talks to resolve the conflict in eastern Ukraine are now underway in Minsk. The negotiations include the heads of state from Russia, Ukraine, France, and Germany.