Published
time: 30 Aug, 2017 13:37Edited time: 30 Aug, 2017 20:12
© Channel
One / 1tv.ru
Russia’s
Channel 1 correspondent Anna Kurbatova has been detained by the Ukrainian
security services in Kiev. The journalist was promptly deported for “smearing”
Ukraine and barred from entering the country for three years, according to a
security services spokesperson.
The
incident occurred in the city center of the Ukrainian capital on Wednesday.
Kurbatova was “grabbed by unknown assailants, forced into a car and
driven away,” according to Channel 1.
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The
Russian authorities are closely monitoring the situation to learn more about
the fate of the journalist.
“At
the moment we don’t have information, but, undoubtedly, we’ll do our best to
clarify the situation,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry
Peskov told reporters.
Russia’s
Foreign Ministry is also trying to clarify the situation around the
correspondent's detention.
“The
Russian Foreign Ministry and Russian diplomatic institutions abroad are looking
into the disappearance of a Channel 1 journalist in Ukraine,” Russian
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS.
The
Russian Foreign Ministry has condemned the incident with Kurbatova, urging
international human rights organizations to closely monitor the situation
around freedom of the press in Ukraine.
“The
abduction of the Channel 1 journalist Anna Kurbatova in Kiev on August 30 and
her compulsory deportation to Russia is clearly not an accidental occurrence,
but a deliberate provocation launched by the Ukrainian law enforcement and
nationalist radicals,” the Russian Foreign Ministry’s
information and press department said in a statement.
“We
draw the attention of international human rights organizations and other
structures, designed to protect freedom and independence of the media, to the
disgraceful attitude towards journalists in Ukraine. We hope for their
appropriate response and practical steps regarding the outrageous actions of
the Kiev authorities.”
The
Russian embassy in Kiev has sent requests to the Ukrainian security services as
well as a note to Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry, urging them to clarify the
incident and immediately release the journalist.
A
spokesperson for the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) confirmed that the
journalist was detained by the organization’s operatives. Kurbatova will be
deported from Ukraine to Russia and the SBU is currently preparing the
paperwork, according to the spokesperson.
“Russian
propagandist Anna Kurbatova will be forcibly returned to the Russian
Federation. Ukraine is a constitutional state, its security services operate
strictly within the legal framework. All necessary documents for her deportation
are being prepared at the moment. It will happen to everyone who dares to smear
Ukraine,” the spokesperson said in a Facebook post.
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Russian
Commissioner for Human Rights Tatyana Moskalkova has contacted her Ukrainian
counterpart following the incident to determine whether the security services
are following legal procedures.
“I’ve
just sent a request to my colleague Valeria Lukyanova asking her about the
location [of the journalist], her health condition and the consular visit, i.e.
whether all the conventions are being observed if she has been detained by law
enforcement,” Moskalkova told Interfax.
“I’m
outraged and deeply worried about the treatment of journalists. Freedom of
speech is protected not only by states’ constitutions, but also by
international legal acts, journalists worldwide are independent and have
immunity.”
Following
her detainment, the Russian journalist was promptly deported from Ukraine, the
SBU spokesperson said late Wednesday.
“Russian
propagandist Anna Kurbatova, against whom a decision of forcible deportation
from Ukraine was made, has crossed the Ukrainian-Russian border. She is barred
from entering the territory of our country for three years,” the
spokesperson added.
Ahead
of the incident, the journalist received threats in connection with her
reporting on Ukraine’s Independence Day, according to Channel 1. Following her
report, Kurbatova was placed on the list of “enemies of Ukraine” on
the notorious Mirotvorets (Peacemaker) website. The website accuses the
journalist of “anti-Ukrainian propaganda” and “manipulating
socially-important information.”
Just
before the incident, Kurbatova had prepared a new report on the ill-treatment
of journalists in Ukraine, which has not yet been aired.
It’s
not the first time a Russian journalist has become a target for the Ukrainian
security services. Earlier in August, a journalist for the All-Russia State
Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK), Tamara Neresyan, was
deported following an apparently similar incident.
“I
was detained in the street and promptly brought to the main SBU office, where I
was questioned for three hours. They confiscated my phone, it was done very
roughly, nearly breaking my arms. Following the questioning they read me a
resolution of the SBU that I would be deported and barred from re-entry for
three years,” Neresyan told Rossiya 24 TV channel.
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