The Russian security services (FSB) announced on Monday the opening of a new investigation against foreign journalists for having “illegally” crossed the Russian border from Ukraine in order to report in the occupied part of the Kursk region .
The prosecution targets Swiss journalist Kurt Pelda, correspondent for CH Media, as well as British journalist Catherine Norris Trent, who works for the French television channel France 24, according to an FSB press release.
The two journalists are accused by the Russian authorities of having “illegally crossed the border of the Russian Federation in the Kursk region”, specifies the press release.
The Ukrainian army launched a surprise offensive in this border region on August 6, the first by a foreign army in Russia since World War II. Russian forces have since launched a counter-offensive and say they have regained ground.
But Ukraine still claims to control dozens of localities there, and several foreign media have carried out reports in the area occupied by kyiv’s forces. In this context, Russia regularly announces the opening of investigations against foreign journalists who have visited the occupied zone, and a dozen journalists have been targeted to date by accusations of this type.
Proceedings have notably been opened against journalists from the American television channel CNN, the Italian channel RAI and the German Deutsche Welle. The journalists targeted by these investigations do not appear to be in Russia but face up to five years in prison there, according to the Russian Criminal Code.
