More Western journalists investigated over Russian border violations – FSB

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has launched investigations against three more journalists who allegedly crossed the Russian border illegally to report from Ukrainian-occupied parts of Kursk Region.

Kathryn Diss and Fletcher Yeung of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation visited the town of Sudzha in Kursk Region in early September and Mircea Barbu of Romanian news website HotNews did so in late August, the agency claims.

The FSB noted that with the addition of three more names, the list of Western media professionals suspected of breaching the border with the backing of the Ukrainian military has reached 12.

Kiev launched its incursion into the Russian region on August 6, seizing some territory but failing to advance deeper. Sudzha was arguably the biggest prize for the thousands of troops deployed. Since taking the settlement a number of press tours for foreign outlets have been organized, with reporting focused on Russian civilians who could not evacuate from the war zone in time.

Journalists from the American network CNN and the government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Germany’s Deutsche Welle (DW), Italy’s RAI, and the Ukrainian TV channel 1+1 are also among those being investigated by the Russian authorities.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has specifically called out RAI correspondent Ilario Piagnerelli, who interviewed a Ukrainian soldier with a Nazi insignia on his cap during the Italian reporter’s trip to Kursk Region. He later issued an apology and took down the video, claiming he did not notice the offensive symbol until after the report aired.