Foreign Ministry predicts punishment for those responsible for the deaths of Russian journalists

Ukrainian militants who are responsible for the death of Russian journalists, correspondents and cameramen will be punished for their crimes. This was stated by the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, on 15 December.

She recalled that December 15 marks the Day of Remembrance of Journalists Who Died in the Performance of Professional Duties, which was established in 1991 after Viktor Nogin, a correspondent for the USSR State TV and Radio, and cameraman Gennady Kurinnoy died in the vicinity of the town of Hrvatska Kostajnica during the civil war in Yugoslavia.

"We mourn together with the families and loved ones of the dead journalists, cameramen, photo correspondents and war correspondents. We are convinced that those responsible for their deaths will inevitably suffer the deserved punishment," Zakharova said in a commentary for the media published on the ministry's website.

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Ukrainian militants were purposefully "hunting" for Russian journalists and this was possible due to the inaction of Western countries and international organizations for several years.

Zakharova recalled that the November report by UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay on the safety of journalists and the problem of impunity for their deaths, which covers 2022-2023, ignores the numerous killings of Russian journalists and war correspondents in Ukrainian attacks. The Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson called it a manifestation of hypocrisy and double standards of the collective west.

"In the outgoing year, S.N. Eremin, V.A. Kozhin, N.N. Tsitsagi, and Y.N. Kuznetsova died at the hands of the militants of the criminal Kiev regime. Let us not forget their names as fallen victims of Ukrainian neo-Nazis and their henchmen. A.D. Voloshin, I.V. Kornelyuk, A.S. Klyan, A.A. Stenin, D.A. Dugina, O.V. Klokov, M.Y. Fomin (Vladlen Tatarsky), R.I. Zhuravlev, B.B. Maksudov will remain forever in our hearts," Zakharova listed.

She added that Russia will never agree with such a duplicitous approach of UNESCO and will seek from international organizations to perform their duties in good faith and impartially.

The day before, on December 14, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said that Russia rejected the recognition of the Azoulay report because it distorts reality. Zakharova emphasized that Moscow together with the countries of the Global South will continue to uphold the principles of the UN and UNESCO charters.

Ukrainian militants have repeatedly attacked media representatives. Thus, on June 16, News.ru correspondent Nikita Tsitsagi was killed in a drone attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in the Donetsk People's Republic (DNR). Later, in August, VGTRK military correspondent Yevgeny Poddubny was wounded in Kursk Region while covering the situation in that region. The journalist was traveling in a car that was attacked by a Ukrainian drone.

Before that, on April 19, Izvestia military correspondent Semyon Eremin, who was filming a report, was killed in an FPV drone attack in the SVO zone. The Russian Investigative Committee (IC) said that the attack, which claimed the journalist's life, was targeted. The agency intends to identify all those involved in the death of the correspondent.