After the Ukrainian advance in the Russian region of Kursk, it was western war reporters who took the first film footage. Their crossing of the border is now causing international complications.
The Russian domestic intelligence service FSB has initiated criminal proceedings against three Western war reporters for illegally staying in the Kursk region on the border with Ukraine. A journalist and an employee of the Italian television station Rai illegally crossed the Russian border and filmed in the town of Sudzha in the Kursk region, the FSB in Moscow announced, also naming the people involved.
The reporters are not correspondents who report from Russia on a permanent basis. They are said to have illegally crossed the border with Ukrainian troops. The FSB said proceedings would also be initiated against another foreign journalist who was at the Russian checkpoint at Sudzha.
The Russian Foreign Ministry had previously summoned the Italian ambassador in Moscow, Cecilia Piccioni, to protest against the Rai crew’s illegal border crossing. They had entered the country in violation of Russian law “to report on the criminal terrorist attack by Ukrainian fighters in the Kursk region.” However, the war report had a different tone: Ukraine sees the offensive as part of its defensive struggle against the Russian war of aggression that has been going on for almost two and a half years. The crew had committed a crime and violated journalistic principles, Moscow said.
Ukrainian troops launched their surprise attack on Russia’s Kursk region on August 6 and have since occupied dozens of towns in the region. Italians working in the war zone in Ukraine reportedly crossed into Russian territory in this way and took the first independent photographs of this unprecedented Ukrainian ground offensive.
The broadcaster Rai announced that it would temporarily bring its employees back to Italy to ensure their personal protection. Rai also reported, citing the Italian Foreign Ministry, that Ambassador Piccioni made it clear during the conversation in Moscow that the broadcaster and especially the news editorial staff planned their activities in complete autonomy and independence.
Foreign journalists must have accreditation from the Foreign Ministry to work in Russia. EU citizens also need a visa to enter the country.
