RT | May 20, 2014
Washington has failed to condemn the detention of Russian journalists working in Ukraine, instead doubting they were journalists at all and accusing them of smuggling weapons based on a “reports and conversations” on the ground.
The US State Department claims that Russian journalists were in possession of press accreditation that was given to them by the self-proclaimed Donetsk republic, which Ukraine and the US do not recognize.
“The Ukrainian Security Services, according to reports, have detained a number of people who were in possession of fake journalist credentials issued by the non-existent Donetsk People’s Republic,” US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said at a daily press briefing.
Psaki did not specify precisely which journalists she was referring to, but Associated Press reporter Matt Lee at the briefing was asking about the Russian TV crew working for LifeNews who were detained by the Ukrainian Security Forces (SBU) on Sunday.
“Reportedly they were carrying portable aircraft missiles in the trunks of their cars at the time of their detention. So I haven’t looked in your trunk lately but it is unlikely you have those in there. That raises some questions about these individuals and whether they were actually journalists,” Psaki said.
After persistent attempts by Lee to find out whether Psaki had any proof or credible source to back such claims, she acknowledged that these reports were “credible” as considered by a US “team on the ground” which is “in touch with Ukrainian authorities.”
Reports “about these individuals and what they were carrying with them, certainly raises the question as to who they are,” Psaki answered
When again pushed to answer whether the accusations were based on rumors, Psaki hinted that the information comes from Kiev.
“This is from our team on the ground who are certainly in touch with our Ukrainian authorities,” Psaki replied.
When asked about the detention of an RT stringer working on the ground in eastern Ukraine, Graham Phillips, Psaki replied that she was not aware of “specific details” of his arrest yet, but promised to look into that.
Psaki said that the State Department will condemn the move of illegal detention of journalists, however emphasizing that Washington will first of all focus on “continuing to press for the release of the Ukrainian and international journalists who have been detained by Russian separatists.”
On Sunday, two Russian LifeNews journalists, Oleg Sidyakin and Marat Saichenko, were captured by Ukrainian troops near Kramatorsk in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
Ukrainian authorities claimed on Tuesday that the detained journalists confessed during interrogation to entering the territory of the country without press cards. The crew are now in Kiev but so far have not been charged.
Previously the OSCE urged the Kiev authorities to release the Russian journalists saying that intimidation and obstruction of media is “unacceptable.”
In the meantime, RT has lost contact with the channel’s contributing journalist Graham Phillips who had earlier reported that he had been detained by the National Guard at a check point in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine. The British journalist Phillips may be turned over to the Ukrainian Security Service and sent to Kiev as well, a source told RT
The Russian Foreign Ministry’s commissioner for human rights labeled the harassment of journalists as the obstruction of media that doesn’t support the coup-appointed authorities’ policy.
“This is another step de facto made by Ukrainian authorities to curb the activities of unwanted journalists,” said Konstantin Dolgov. “The journalists who work professionally and show an objective picture, the ugly side of the outrages made by ultra-nationalists, the results of [Kiev’s] punitive operation in the southeast.”
Journalists Oleg Sidyakin and Marat Saichenko. Image from http://www.lifenews.ru
In both cases involving the RT stringer and LifeNews crew, it appears the SBU was responsible in detaining and neutralizing reporting. Dolgov added that Phillips’ arrest followed the “unlawful seizure, detention of Russian journalists,” adding that Moscow is continuing to work for their speedy release.
On Monday, pro-Kiev activists again called to “immediately detain and deport” Phillips, who they believe is “cooperating with terrorists,” according to a message posted on EuroMaidan Kharkov’s Facebook page.
The same day, LifeNews said that journalists held captive by Ukraine’s coup-installed government were reportedly arrested after they released footage showing a UN-marked helicopter used by Kiev’s armed forces engaged in an operation against civilians in the east. A few days prior to the journalists’ arrest on Sunday, the authorities in Kiev issued an order to “find and neutralize” the authors of the video, a LifeNews source in SBU told the channel.
Meanwhile, RT Arabic’s news crew who arrived in Kiev to cover the upcoming May 25 Ukrainian presidential election has not been allowed into the country and was sent back to Moscow under the pretext that they were unable to properly explain the purpose of their visit, despite being accredited by the Ukrainian Central Election Commission.