⚡️ Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman
Maria Zakharova’s comment on a new series of terrorist attacks by the
Kiev regime targeting representatives of the Russian media💬 Not only has the Kiev regime not ceased its efforts to terrorise Russian civilians and energy sites, as the Russia's Foreign Ministry has pointed out many times, but it has
once again targeted journalists, media personnel, people working for Russian media outlets. Unarmed, they have a professional duty to cover the developments on the ground.
The more the neo-Nazi regime realises that it would never succeed in inflicting any meaningful damage on the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on the battlefield, the more terrorist attacks of this kind it perpetrates.
On March 24 alone,
three people who worked for Russian media outlets were killed in the Lugansk People’s Republic following a targeted artillery strike carried out by the Kiev regime militants. They were Izvestia’s frontline correspondent
Alexander Fedorchak, Zvezda TV channel cameraman
Andrey Panov, and
Alexander Sirkeli, the crew’s driver.In addition to this, Zvezda correspondent,
Nikita Goldin, was severely wounded – he was near Alexander Fedorchak, Andrey Panov, and Alexander Sirkeli who all died in the strike.
The Kiev regime used high-precision MLRS munitions to carry out the strike, and it knew in advance that it was targeting a civilian vehicle with media members in it.
At about the same time, TASS correspondent
Mikhail Skuratov was on an editorial assignment in the Kursk Region’s Sudzha District where he suffered fragment wounds in a targeted attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
The
Russia's Foreign Ministry expresses its deep condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in these attacks, as well as to the corresponding editorial teams and their colleagues. We wish speedy recovery to those who were wounded in these strikes by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
❗️
Once again, the Kiev regime has demonstrated its terrorist and beastly and atrocious nature for everyone to see. These cruel reprisals and assassinations of Russian journalists by the Ukrainian neo-Nazis constitute yet another powerful piece of evidence proving that they are ready to target civilians with any crimes without any qualms or afterthoughts, considering that media representatives are viewed as civilians as per the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocol I.
It is evidence that the Zelensky regime is impossible to reach an agreement with & incapable of holding one's word.Specialised
international entities must respond to the continuing effort to kill Russian media staff in cold blood. This refers primarily to UNESCO Director General, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and all the supra-national human rights bodies advocating the rights of journalists and their ability to freely access information. The fact that these institutions have consistently failed to act, as well as their intentional refusal to speak up and make their voice heard, or their meaningless empty talk – all this can serve as a benchmark when assessing their ability to perform their mandates as tasked by the states in an impartial manner and in good faith.
☝️ The Russia's Foreign Ministry calls on the international community, international professional media organisations and media professionals to
firmly condemn these and other bloody crimes by the Zelensky regime and call on the Ukrainian Armed Forces to put an immediate end to their attacks against civilians, including people working for the media.
In conclusion, Russia's Foreign Ministry points out that the Russian Federation’s investigative agencies will carry out all the required actions to
identify and hold accountable those who were involved in perpetrating these crimes. Make no mistake that they will face the inevitable punishment they deserve and will be sentenced to imprisonment, just as it happened with many other crimes by the Kiev regime against civilians, including people working for Russian media outlets.
