Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has accused the Italian state media company Rai of spreading falsehoods about the situation in Kursk Region, and warned that journalists who illegally crossed the country’s border could be prosecuted.
On Wednesday, Rai aired a TV report on Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk Region, in which its journalists were embedded with Kiev's forces and drove deep into Russian territory. In the clip, the reporters’ car drove past what appeared to be destroyed Western-supplied Ukrainian armor, later arriving at the Russian town of Sudzha, which sustained significant damage during the fighting.
On Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the Italian ambassador in Moscow, Cecilia Piccioni to lodge a “strong protest” over the Rai journalists’ trip. The film crew “illegally entered the territory of the Russian Federation to cover the criminal terrorist attack by Ukrainian militants in the Kursk region,” the ministry said.
It added that the Italian reporters “used their presence in our country to whitewash the crimes of the Kiev regime” and accused them of a “gross violation of Russian legislation and elementary rules of journalistic ethics”.
Speaking on the Russia-24 channel, Zakharova also noted that Rai’s report “did not even distort facts, but rather rewrote them and turned them upside down… Black was called white, and white was called black.”
According to Zakharova, the Western media – which she said had concocted numerous misleading reports about the Ukraine conflict that have since been debunked by Moscow – used the trip into Russia to bolster their narrative. “This is how they presented their fabrications in their materials as the truth, as if they were there, because otherwise no one would have believed them,” the spokeswoman argued.
Ukrainian forces launched an attack on Kursk Region last week, which has become the largest incursion into Russia since the start of the conflict. Russia has denounced the assault as a provocation, accusing Kiev of targeting civilians. Ukrainian troops are subjecting Russian civilians to violence and humiliation in Kursk Region, according to statements by local officials and video evidence circulating on social media.
At least 12 civilians have been killed and over 120 injured in Kursk Region, the local administration reported earlier, although the exact death toll cannot be established in Kiev-controlled territories.
While Kiev has made some gains, the Russian Defense Ministry has said its advance has been halted, with fighting still raging in border areas. Moscow has estimated Ukrainian losses at up to 2,800 service members and more than 400 armored vehicles.