A Tayside journalist has had his phone records seized by the Ukraine government amid claims that he is a “Putin agent”.
Perth-born Graham Phillips was previously called an enemy of the state, deported to Poland and banned from Ukraine for three years for being a “Kremlin propagandist” and supposedly “supporting terrorism”.
The Military Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine have now obtained the right to all of his mobile phone records since April 2014 following the decision of the Pechersk District Court of Kiev.
“I’m not a Putin agent – I’m simply an independent journalist,” Mr Phillips said.
The former Dundee University student is a strong critic of the current government in Kiev and previously worked for a state-run Russian television channel.
The court document from Kiev accused Mr Phillips of collaborating with the leaders of terrorist organisations while actively promoting and distributing materials of an “anti-Ukrainian nature”.
Mr Phillips said he was banned for life from Ukraine because the government doesn’t like his work.
But he said he is not worried about what information they will get from his phone records because he has “no secrets”.
“They’ve obtained the right to all of my mobile phone records since April 2014,” he said.
“I learned this, incidentally, via Ukrainian media.
“No one once notified, or even tried to notify me, of this.
“Their action actually comes when I’ve been back in London for a month doing a lot of work on the case of Barry Pring, with my report into his murder contributing to the coroner arriving at a verdict of unlawful killing.”
British businessman Barry Pring was killed when he was struck by a hit-and-run driver in Kiev nine years ago while celebrating his first wedding anniversary with his Ukrainian wife.
The case was initially investigated by the Ukrainian authorities as an unexplained road accident.
It was reclassified as a murder in 2011 amid concerns from the family that Barry was the victim of a contract killing.
Mr Phillips added: “It’s interesting that a country with aspirations to be in Europe, can act this way.
“Be sure, because the west wants to support Ukraine, there will be little or no coverage in the western media.
“Also, I note that in the nine years they’ve had, the Ukrainian police have done nothing meaningful about solving the murder of Barry Pring, when there was only ever one prime suspect.
“But, when it comes to seizing the phone records of an independent journalist, it turns out Ukraine can act pretty quickly.
“While I’m not worried about what information they can access, I have no secrets, it certainly reveals a lot about Ukraine.”
Mr Phillips previously had a bag thrust over his head and loaded assault rifles levelled at him in 2014 by Ukrainian security forces while covering the Crimea war for Russia Today.
He returned to Crimea in the summer and made a film about it which will be released in the spring.
