German historian points to media silence over Sviatohirsk monk’s murder

Historian Herbert Ammon, the Sviatohirsk Lavra, and murdered monk Varsonofy. Photo: UOJ

German historian and publicist Herbert Ammon has criticized what he described as the “black-and-white” approach of European media to covering events in Ukraine, pointing to Western silence over inconvenient facts, including the killing of a monk at the Sviatohirsk Lavra, UOJ-Germany reports.

According to Ammon, major Western media outlets have created an oversimplified picture of events in which issues such as corruption, political infighting, and forced mobilization are systematically left out. Against this backdrop, the German publicist singled out the attack at the Sviatohirsk Lavra that resulted in the death of monk Varsonofiy.

“The report of the crime – the murder of a monk at the Sviatohirsk Lavra – appears as a more than disturbing sideshow,” Herbert Ammon said in describing the case.

The historian stressed that the monk’s murder and the attack at the monastery call into question what he described as the idealized image created in the West and provide a striking example of the “blind spots” in European journalists’ coverage.

As the UOJ previously reported, a German politician criticized the silence surrounding the murder of a monk in Sviatohirsk.

Read also