Lira, a Chilean-American journalist, died in custody in Ukraine in January 2024 while awaiting trial for allegedly “justifying Russian aggression.” Speaking at a conference at the Moscow School of Economics on Tuesday, Zakharova criticized the absence of Western media coverage on the case.
“Has anyone besides Russia spoken about Gonzalo Lira? He was an American journalist, a US passport holder. Can you recall anyone else mentioning him? No one did,” she stated.
According to Zakharova, both the White House and the US State Department remained silent on Lira’s imprisonment, a response she described as “strategic silence,” allegedly backed by USAID, an organization that claims to support global development.
She argued that international organizations meant to defend press freedoms are in a state of severe decline. Instead of waiting for them to recover, she suggested that Russia, with its “diverse and vibrant” media landscape, should take action on its own.
Lira had lived in Kharkov, Ukraine, since 2010 and was married to a Ukrainian woman. He became a controversial figure for his critical coverage of Ukraine’s government and the conflict with Russia on YouTube. His troubles began in early 2022 when Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) detained him, though he was released a week later without charges.
In May 2023, he was arrested again and released on bail three months later, claiming he had been tortured in custody. However, after attempting to flee to Hungary in July, he was rearrested.
His father, Gonzalo Lira Sr., suggested that then-US President Joe Biden’s administration had implicitly approved his son’s arrest. Following Lira’s death, his family blamed the Ukrainian government.
In February, billionaire entrepreneur and close Trump ally Elon Musk also accused Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky of being responsible for Lira’s death. When asked about Lira in a press conference, Zelensky responded, “I do not know this man. I never knew him.”
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