While he met with the creators of an acclaimed documentary yesterday, Prince William expressed his desire to “see how we can assist” the situation of renowned Russian dissident Alexei Navalny.
The Prince and Princess of Wales attracted attention when they arrived at the London Bafta Awards event.
One of the voices in their film, investigative journalist Christo Grozev, was honoured with a Bafta award by the makers of “Navalny.”
At the ceremony, Bulgarian Mr. Grozev, who recounts the circumstances surrounding Navalny’s poisoning in the documentary, alleged that he and his family had been denied entry because they posed a “security concern.”
Producer Odessa Rae made the following statement at the Bafta Awards show: “We want to dedicate this prize to Christo Grozev, our Bulgarian computer whiz, who is unable to join us tonight due to the Russian government and Vladimir Putin’s threats to his life.
During the summer of 2020, I met Christo. He had a very secluded life then, but he sacrificed everything to share this and many other important tales.
Then Mr. Grozev tweeted, “Wow.”
With Bellingcat, an investigative journalism organization that specializes in fact-checking, the use of open source information, and social media research tactics, Mr. Grozev is the chief Russia investigator.
On Friday, he tweeted that he was “surprised” to be “barred” and that he had been informed that he posed “a public security concern.”
This, according to Mr. Grozev, demonstrates the “increasing risks to independent journalists throughout the globe,” including not just threats from “murderous tyrants, but also from attempts to stifle journalists’ voices.”
In the movie, Mr. Grozev describes how he and colleague investigative reporter Maria Pevchikh exposed the specifics of the poisoned scheme that suggested Russian participation.
According to the Metropolitan Police, organizers are responsible for enforcing any attendance restrictions since police departments “do not and cannot” do so.
The police department stated that it was ‘extremely worried’ about the ‘hostile intents of foreign nations’ on UK land but that it was unable to comment on an individual’s safety or the advice provided to them.
But, the scenario that journalists deal with across the globe and the fact that certain journalists deal with the hostile intents of foreign nations while in the UK is a reality that we are fully concerned with, the statement said.
“We are dedicated to cooperating with our intelligence partners to look into these concerns and to take further actions to safeguard the safety of everyone involved.”
The Met said, “We recognize the effect of such threats on people impacted, notwithstanding our efforts on protective measures and on investigations.
“The hostile state actors behind such threats take responsibility for them and their potential effect on the general public, and we have greatly increased the resources dedicated to pursuing them.”
“We are thankful for the continuous participation of Bafta,” the statement reads. “We acknowledge that our advise sometimes mean that event organizers have tough decisions to make when considering how best to reduce any risks to the security of their event.”
The safety of all attendees and workers at the event is always our first concern, and we always have strong and adequate security procedures in place, according to a statement from Bafta prior to the ceremony.
Alicia Kearns, a member of parliament for the Tories and the head of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, previously tweeted: “I’ve highlighted with ministers – you are not the security risk.”
Investigative journalist Maria Pevchikh from Russia urged the Kremlin to release Navalny and all political prisoners while speaking at the Bafta winner’s lounge.
The message to the Kremlin, she said, is that they must immediately release Navalny and other political detainees and halt the war as well.
‘And when Navalny entered jail, I made him a vow that I would use the time he was incarcerated to climb the tallest chair and the highest mountain, shout his name, and ensure that people never forgot what he had accomplished for my nation.
And I feel like the stage tonight has been a mountain, I guess, high enough to shout his name from it. Let’s all keep in mind that while we are enjoying this wonderful evening tonight, many others are unhappily spending these days in jail just because one dishonest KGB guy tried to take over a wonderful nation.
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