Canadian journalist Eva Bartlett asks Putin for Russian citizenship

Canadian journalist Eva Bartlett appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin requesting Russian citizenship.

Photo: Personal archive by Anastasia Afonina, https://creativecommons.org/public-domain/pdm/

Russian passport

Bartlett said she enjoys living in Russia and immersing herself in Russia's customs, traditions, culture, and language.

"The West is very unstable right now. I want to help convey the Russian perspective on events, including those in Ukraine, to international audiences,” the journalist told RIA Novosti news agency.

She also said that she no longer feels safe in her home country. According to Bartlett, when she returned to Canada after several years abroad, she was met by security service officers and held at the airport for several hours.

"They simply don’t like that I present an alternative point of view to Western audiences. Canadian state-run media CBC  even tried to smear my name relying on data from the Mirotvorets database," she added.

Eva Bartlett was born in the United States but raised in Canada. She gained prominence as a journalist for her reporting on the civil war in Syria. She also covered events in the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. In December 2022, she set out a hope that Russia would achieve the goals of its special military operation.

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Eva Karene Bartlett (born 14 June 1977) is an American Canadian activist, commentator, and blogger who has propagated conspiracy theories in connection to the Syrian civil war, most notably the disproven allegation that the White Helmets stage rescues and "recycle" children in its videos. Bartlett describes herself as an "independent writer and rights activist". She writes commentary pieces for Russian state-controlled RT's website. Critics contend that her advocacy amounts to participation in a disinformation campaign aimed at lessening the responsibility of the Assad regime for the acts of indiscriminate killing during the war, and to promote pro-Kremlin content in relation to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Bartlett's posts on social media have been tagged with the disclaimer that her writings "may be partially or wholly under the editorial control of the Russian government". Bartlett has lived in Russia since 2019. She has been making videos and posts on social media from Ukraine during the Russian invasion, sometimes with journalists from RT. She often appears as a guest on RT. She has been criticised for spreading Kremlin propaganda and misinformation.