Cases against American, Italian and Ukrainian journalists who visited Sudzha City were initiated in Russia

A Ukrainian soldier in the Russian city of Sudzha. Screenshot: video report by Olha Kyrylenko, UP

The Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB) has initiated criminal cases against American and Ukrainian journalists who filmed footage near the city of Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk Oblast after it was captured by Ukrainian forces.

Source: Russian media outlet Interfax with reference to the public relations centre of FSB

Details: The case was initiated under the article about illegal crossing of the border.

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Specifically, the persons of interest in the case are CNN correspondent Nick Walsh and Ukrainian journalists Olesia Borovyk and Diana Butsko. They all released footage from the town of Sudzha which is controlled by Ukrainian forces.

Earlier FSB reported that a criminal case had been initiated against Italian journalists Simone Traini and Stefania Battistini who worked in Sudzha. Later Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry expressed its protest to the Italian ambassador in connection with these events.

FSB added that the journalists would be put on an international wanted list shortly.

The maximal sanction provided by the article on the illegal crossing of the Russian border is five years of imprisonment.  

Read also: Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi’s raid: how the Ukrainian offensive in Russia’s Kursk Oblast is progressing and what to expect next

Background:

• The Ukrainian operation in Kursk Oblast began on 6 August. On 10 August, on the fifth day of the Ukrainian offensive deep in the Russian territory, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, admitted: Ukraine pushed the war to the aggressor’s land.  
• On 13 August Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi informed Zelenskyy that Ukraine controlled 74 settlements in Kursk Oblast. On the afternoon of 15 August Syrskyi reported that the Armed Forces of Ukraine had advanced from one to two kilometres in certain areas in Kursk oblast since the beginning of the day and taken control of 82 Russian settlements.
• On 15 August, sources in the Security Service of Ukraine told Ukrainska Pravda that the day before, they captured 102 Russian soldiers in Russia’s Kursk Oblast.
• Ukraine’s Air Assault Forces shared footage of the first hours of the operation in Russia’s Kursk Oblast. The video shows demining, breaching the border, destroying enemy defence lines, air and artillery operations, and prisoners of war.
• Later the 80th Air Assault Brigade of Ukraine’s Armed Forces shared footage from the early hours of the military operation in Russia’s Kursk Oblast. The troops breached the defence line, destroyed a border checkpoint and captured over 50 prisoners.
• As of 20 August, Ukrainian forces control more than 1,260 sq km of territory and 93 settlements in Kursk Oblast, Russia.

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