A journalist from the United States was threatened with prison for speaking about the rights of residents of Donbass.

John Varoli, a former journalist for the American edition of The New York Times (NYT) and an ex-employee of the Bloomberg news agency, said on March 7, speaking at the Nevsky Forum of Friends of Russia, that he could face a 20-year sentence in his homeland for speaking about the rights of residents of Donbass.

"If I go back to America, I will face poverty at best, and 20 years in prison at worst for supporting Russia. What did I say? I just said the obvious thing during my speech on the federal channel: the people of Donbass have human rights, the right to choose their own destiny," TASS quoted him as saying at the event.

The news is being updated