The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday that it summoned the Italian ambassador in Moscow Cecchilia Piccioni in link "illegal border crossing" by correspondents of the Italian state media RAI, who covered the situation in Russia's Kursk region this week, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
"On August 16, the Italian ambassador in Moscow Piccioni was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry. An urgent protest was made to the ambassador because of the actions of the camera crew of the state media RAI, which illegally entered the territory of Russia to cover the criminal terrorist attack by the Ukrainian servicemen in the Kursk region, the ministry said, as quoted by TASS.
The Russian Foreign Ministry emphasized that the actions carried out by the Italian citizens are subject to consideration according to the Criminal Code of Russia and "the competent authorities are taking the necessary measures to establish the circumstances of the crime committed by RAI employees".
The Italian foreign ministry told Reuters that Ambassador Piccioni had explained to Russian authorities that RAI and the media's news teams "plan their activities in a completely independent and autonomous way".
RAI broadcast on Wednesday the first footage taken by a foreign media from the Russian city of Suja, which was captured in the first stages of the Ukrainian invasion.
The Italian camera crew appeared to have been accompanied by a Ukrainian military team as they broadcast footage of the affected city.
Earlier, the Russian channel "Baza" close to the country's law enforcement authorities announced that the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia intends to initiate criminal proceedings against the two RAI journalists for illegally crossing the state border.