Zakharova accused Kiev of persecuting Russian journalists in its security zone

Kiev is purposefully attacking Russian journalists working in the war zone. This was announced on October 2 by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry on the occasion of the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.

"The Kiev regime, dumbfounded by permissiveness and impunity, is openly conducting a real hunt for representatives of the Russian media community," Zakharova is quoted as saying on the agency's website.

According to the diplomat, representatives of the Russian media covering the events on the front line are in particular danger. Zakharova claims that the press identification marks on the protective equipment of war correspondents have ceased to serve as a guarantee of security and, on the contrary, can be used to identify the targets of attacks.

The representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also criticized the reaction of international organizations to the actions against Russian journalists. She stated that restrictions and other measures against Russian media and their employees in Ukraine, Moldova, the Baltic States and from the West have not been properly assessed by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), UNESCO, OSCE and human rights non-governmental organizations.

"Crimes against Russian journalists have no statute of limitations, and the fact that former UNESCO Director General Audre Azoulay refused to condemn them at the time does not mean at all that her pernicious 'legacy' should be cemented in a profile report and in the activities of the organization as a whole," the diplomat said.

In conclusion, Zakharova said that Moscow would continue to seek to bring those responsible for crimes against Russian journalists to justice. The Russian side also intends to defend the demands for the protection of the rights of media employees at the UNESCO site.

"They were trying to show the whole truth of the conflict"

On December 15, the Memorial Day of the dead Journalists, relatives and colleagues remembered the fallen military officers.

On September 8, Zakharova also drew attention to the fact that Russian journalists covering events in the SVR zone had become targets of attacks, but the Western media had not responded to these cases properly. She noted that as a result of the terrorist attacks, many journalists were killed, including Izvestia war correspondent Alexander Fedorchak, who died in March last year.

In April 2024, Semyon Eremin, a military correspondent for Izvestia, was killed while filming a report in the SVR zone. The journalist was injured as a result of an FPV drone attack and subsequently died.