Russia opens criminal case into CNN journalist for report from Ukrainian-occupied Sudzha

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has opened a criminal case against CNN journalist Nick Paton Walsh, as well as Ukrainian journalists Olesya Borovik and Diana Butsko, for illegally entering Russia to film a dispatch in the Ukrainian-held town of Sudzha in the Kursk region last week, Russian news agency Interfax reported on Thursday.

The FSB told Interfax that Paton Walsh, along with Borovik and Butsko, who work for independent Ukrainian news outlet Hromadske, would be placed on Russia’s wanted list. The maximum penalty for illegally crossing the Russian border is five years in prison, according to Interfax.

On Saturday, the FSB announced it had opened a similar criminal case against journalists Stefani Battistini and Simona Traini from the Italian TV channel Rai 1, who had also come to Sudzha to report, accompanied by a Ukrainian military escort.

On Friday, Russia’s Foreign Ministry summoned Italian Ambassador to Moscow Cecilia Piccioni to lodge a protest at Rai’s report, accusing the journalists of “grossly violating Russian law and the basic rules of journalistic ethics” to “whitewash the crimes of the Kiev regime”.

In a joint statement, Rai’s union of journalists Usigrai and Italy’s national press union FNSI called Moscow’s threats to investigate Battistini and Traini “unacceptable”, adding that “journalism is not a crime” and “reporting is not done with prior authorisations”.