Russia's political – but also judicial – campaign against the Rai journalists who entered the Russian region of Kursk in recent days following the deployment of Ukrainian troops there continues and is becoming, if possible, harsher. The spokeswoman for the Moscow Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said today that their entry – and that of other Western journalists – across the border is proof of “their direct involvement in the implementation of a large-scale hybrid aggression against Russia”. Zakharova, referring in particular to the mission of Rai journalist Stefania Battistini and the operator Simone Traini, which has become an international affair, threateningly recalls that “criminal proceedings have already been opened against some representatives of foreign media for illegally crossing the state border”. The Kremlin spokeswoman delves deeper into the subject in an interview with the newspaper Vzgliad claiming that “Western media reporting on the Kursk region pursues a number of goals, including protecting kyiv's crimes, manipulating public opinion and creating the necessary context for increased Western support for the Ukrainian armed forces.” These pseudo-reporters can only be called traitors to the profession who have stooped to directly participate in the fabrication and dissemination of Ukrainian propaganda.”
Ilario Piagnerelli and the response to the Kremlin
Yesterday, August 18, Zakharova attacked another envoy RaiIlario Piagnerelli. The accusation was that of “praising Ukrainian neo-Nazis by posing in reports wearing SS symbols”. The journalist's fault would be to have “carried out a video interview showing a man wearing a cap with the insignia of the SS division “Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler””. Today, at , the journalist writes, while specifying that he does not want to give an inch to Moscow propaganda on the subject, pointing the finger at the “network of pro-invasion profiles linked to Moscow” active in Italy, “which devotes its resources to discrediting my work and that of other correspondents. They feign shock – Piagnerelli responds harshly – but they have found in this image a formidable argument for anti-Ukrainian propaganda. Our work – he assures, extending his solidarity also to other colleagues targeted by Moscow – will continue to be free of constraints and characterized by the utmost rigor”.
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