Moscow demands Russian journalists detained in Kyiv be freed
MOSCOW. Jan 30 (Interfax) - Moscow demands that Russian journalists from the LifeNews TV channel detained in Kyiv be immediately freed, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Friday.
"We demand that the Russian journalists be freed immediately and the wicked practice of intimidation of members of the press stopped," it said.
Moscow "expects an appropriate reaction from specialized international organizations, primarily OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Dunja Mijatovic, to a new unlawful act by the Kyiv authorities systematically purging the Ukrainian informational environment of an impartial glance at the events happening in this country," it said.
"This is far from being the first instance of the obstruction of the work of Russian journalists both by Ukrainian radicals and government institutions," it said.
"The LifeNews TV channel employees have experienced a direct assault by the law enforcement bodies' absolute inaction and faced farfetched administrative barriers," it said.
It was reported earlier on Friday that Ukrainian Security Service officers had detained a LifeNews filming crew comprised of correspondent Yelizaveta Khramtsova and camera operator Natalia Kalysheva.
