Photographer with Kremlin media ties disqualified from German pictures prize after backlash

A photograph sequence about Russian-occupied Mariupol that was initially shortlisted for the celebrated Leica Oskar Barnack Award has been disqualified after Ukrainian media coated the photographer’s work for Kremlin-linked media.

Photographer Valery Melnikov lashed out on the choice on his Instagram on Aug. 10, declaring that “an artist does not owe anyone proof or justification.”

“I have been documenting the situation in Mariupol and the surrounding region since 2022. ⠀ This is my long-term personal project,” he claimed.

Melnikov has beforehand stated that his pictures is targeted on documenting the struggling of civilians. Yet a lot of his work has aligned with, and at occasions strengthened, the narratives promoted by the Kremlin-backed media shops for which he has labored.

His biography on the World Press Photo’s web site signifies that he has labored for Rossiya Segodnya (Russia Today), a Russian state-owned information company, since 2009. However, Melnikov’s Aug. 10 put up seems to point that he now not works for RIA Novosti.

Rossiya Segodnya oversees a number of main media manufacturers inside Russia, together with RIA Novosti and Sputnik.

In 2023, the state-run Victory Museum in Moscow held an exhibition of his work from the occupied territories. According to the state-run museum,  Melnikov’s works inform the “poignant stories” of households being “reunited” after Russia’s “liberation” of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.

Given the intensive surveillance imposed by Russian authorities in occupied Ukrainian territories, it’s extremely unlikely that Melnikov might have labored in Mariupol with out the information — and approval — of the occupation authorities.

Media outlet PetaPixel reported on Aug. 11 that Leica had stated that Melnikov’s picture sequence might now not stay on the shortlist for the Oskar Barnack Award “following a legal and compliance review.”

According to Melnikov’s Instagram put up, representatives of the award introduced up their considerations over him being a “Kremlin-media-linked photographer,” which is a time period used to consult with him within the title of the Kyiv Independent’s article about his work.