MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Kremlin complained on Wednesday about what it called “unacceptable” treatment of a team of Russian journalists who travelled to the United States to cover next week’s presidential election.
Russian media said the journalists from the Izvestia news organisation were questioned for 10 hours and one of them had his visa cancelled and was expelled.
No immediate comment was available from U.S. authorities.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow would seek more detailed information on the incident.
“But such an attitude towards journalists, of course, does not paint the U.S. authorities in a good light, especially after (the journalists) completed all the formalities and procedures and obtained all the permissions to enter,” he said.
Peskov added that the U.S. behaviour “contradicts, probably, the principles of freedom of the media. And of course, for us, this is unacceptable.”
The journalists were from Izvestia, a commercial media group which owns television stations and a newspaper. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Russia would deliver an “appropriate response”.
Moscow has frequently complained about the banning of some Russian news services by Western countries and accused them of placing restrictions on its journalists.
Washington has accused Russia of using state media to interfere in elections in the United States and elsewhere.
Reporters Without Borders, a French-based NGO, ranks Russia 162nd out of 180 countries for press freedom. Four Russian journalists are currently on trial behind closed doors for alleged links to the banned organisation of late dissident Alexei Navalny.
Two U.S. journalists who had been jailed in Russia were released in a prisoner swap with the West on Aug. 1. Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich had been convicted of spying and Alsu Kurmasheva of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was found guilty of spreading false information about the Russian army.
Both denied the charges against them. Russia said the cases were criminal matters, not persecution of journalists.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Mark Trevelyan and Gleb Stolyarov; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
