Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced on Tuesday that it has filed criminal charges against a Deutsche Welle reporter and a Ukrainian television journalist for allegedly crossing the border into the Kursk region illegally while on a reporting assignment.
“The FSB of Russia has initiated criminal proceedings, and an investigation is currently underway,” the agency was quoted as saying by the state-run Interfax news agency.
The journalists facing charges of “illegally crossing the state border of Russia” are Deutsche Welle reporter Nick Connolly and Ukrainian 1+1 TV correspondent Nataliya Viktorovna Nahorna. If found guilty, they could face up to five years in prison.
Earlier, Russian authorities had pressed similar charges against CNN reporter Nick Paton Walsh, two Ukrainian journalists, and two Italian reporters from the broadcaster RAI, for filming in the town of Sudzha in the Kursk region. This town was captured shortly after Ukrainian forces launched a surprise incursion on August 6.
In total, Russian law enforcement has charged seven foreign journalists with illegal activities related to reporting in the Kursk region.
However, both the journalists and their employers have maintained that their work in the region was in compliance with international law.
“Throughout this conflict, our team has provided factual, impartial reporting from both Ukrainian and Russian perspectives on the war,” CNN stated after charges were filed against Walsh.
“Our team, along with other international journalists, was invited by the Ukrainian government and escorted by the Ukrainian military to view territory it had recently retaken,” the statement continued. “This is a protected activity under the rights afforded to journalists by the Geneva Convention and international law.”
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