Italy summons Russian ambassador for persecution of journalist who was with Ukraine's Armed Forces in Kursk Oblast

The Russian ambassador was summoned to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday, 12 September, because Stefania Battistini, a journalist from Rai TV channel, was put on the wanted list since she was among the first to visit Russia's Kursk Oblast after the start of the Ukraine's Armed Forces operation. Source: Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, European Pravda reports Details: Tajani said he had summoned the Russian ambassador to express their shock at Moscow's unusual decision to put journalist Battistini on the list of wanted persons issued by the Russian Interior Ministry.

The Russian media reported earlier on Thursday that seven foreign journalists had been put on the wanted list by the Federal Security Service, against whom cases of "illegal border crossing" had been opened.

Among them are CNN correspondent Nick Paton Walch; Rai journalists Stefania Battistini and Simone Traini; Deutsche Welle employee Nicholas Simon Connolly; and Ukrainian journalists Nataliia Nahorna, Diana Butsko and Olesia Borovyk. Back in mid-August, Russia protested to Italy over the work of its journalists in Kursk Oblast.

Local journalists' unions and the Council of Europe stood up for the Italians, who called threats of criminal prosecution unacceptable. Nevertheless, Rai recalled its correspondents from Ukraine to their homeland.

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