Russia's Foreign Ministry Issues 'Strong Protest' to Italian Ambassador in Moscow

The Russian Foreign Ministry has lodged a 'strong protest' with Italian Ambassador to Moscow, Cecilia Piccioni. The reason behind this protest is a report aired by the Italian Rai 1 television channel, which was filmed in the town of Suja in the Kursk region. According to the Foreign Ministry's statement on its official website, journalists allegedly 'illegally entered' Russian territory to cover 'the terrorist act perpetrated by Ukrainian militants in the Kursk region.'

The ministry added that security forces are conducting a 'legal assessment' of the journalists' actions and threatened to initiate criminal proceedings.

The Italian Rai 1 channel published the report on August 14. Correspondents Stefania Battistini and Simone Traini photographed homes destroyed by shelling and spoke with local residents. 'Everyone saw it, and correspondingly, experts read the supposed reports they made about Kursk, where the facts were not merely distorted but restructured and turned upside down; that is, black was called white and white was called black,' said Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry.