CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh, a British national — and two Ukrainian journalists, Diana Butsko and Olesya Borovik — have been reporting from Ukraine for some time since the Russian invasion. Recently they were invited as part of a team to view territory now occupied by Ukraine. They were embedded with a Ukrainian military convoy and traveled to the Ukrainian-occupied town of Sudzha in the Kursk region.

“Our team was invited by the Ukrainian government along with other international journalists, and escorted by the Ukrainian miitary to view territory it had recently occupied,” according to a statement from CNN. The statement continued: “This is protected activity in accordance with the rights afforded to journalists under the Geneva Convention and international law.” [RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty, August 22, 2024.]

Now Russia’s FSB — successor to the KGB — says it has opened a criminal case against the three journalists, alleging they “illegally crossed into the country to film reports on Ukraine’s incursion into Russian territory.” [Id.]

The August 22 statement continued: “In the near future, they will be put on the international wanted list,” and added that they would each face up to five years in prison.

The Russian Foreign Ministry in Moscow also summoned the U.S. Embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission, Stephanie Holmes, “to protest what it called ‘provocative’ reports by U.S. journalists from the Kyiv-controlled part of Russia’s Kursk region who ‘illegally’ crossed the Russian border.” [Id.]

And a case was launched last week against two Italian journalists who reported on the Ukrainian “offensive” into Kursk, also accusing them of illegally crossing the border.

So what we have here is the big Russian bear saying to the West, “I can come into your yard and destroy your house, take your toys, and kill your family and your dog . . . but you had better stay out of my yard or I’ll get you too.”

But that’s not new; it’s typical Russian bullying. It’s really about much more than that: it’s about harassment of journalists — specifically those from Western countries — setting them up for arrest, conviction and imprisonment on purely made-up charges. And why? Well, for one thing, to shut them up (as though there won’t be others to follow in their wake). But, even more importantly, to hold them — as they did Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva and the others — hostage for future use when it’s time to barter once again.

And they don’t give a damn about world opinion, or sanctions, or human rights, or the Geneva Convention. It’s Putin’s way, or the proverbial highway.

Or so he thinks.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/26/24