Flickr/Juanedc
Ukrainian Security Services claimed that they did not try to recruit the Russian journalist Irina Visokovich but just interviewed her, RIA Novosti informs. The meeting lasted for several hours without any protocol. At the end of the conversation, the employee of the RIA Novosti News Agency was induced to sign a document in accordance with which she was obliged to inform the Ukrainian Security Services on her colleagues’ actions.
Irina Visokovich came to Kherson in order to write materials on court proceedings of the case of News Agency RIA Novosti – Ukraina Editor-in-Chief Kirill Vyshinsky. However, instead of performing her professional duties, she was taken for a serious conversation with the Ukrainian Security Services (USS).
After a long-lasting conversation unconfirmed by the official protocol, Irina was strongly encouraged to sign a document on interaction with the Ukrainian Security Services and, in accordance with some articles of the document, to report on the activities of her colleagues from RIA Novosti. After the incident, Irina Visokovich being the Ukrainian citizen and permanently residing in Lithuania came back to Vilnius and talked on the incident.
The Ukrainian Security Services insist on the fact that the journalist came to Kherson without professional purposes, but to spread propaganda having received a large amount of money. However, the request to specify what the propaganda was about was ignored by the Ukrainian Security Services.
Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested against an attempt to recruit the Russian journalist. The statement reads that such actions by the USS confirm that there is not any freedom of speech at Ukraine. “Direct pressure, threats, provocative actions by the Ukrainian Security Services, physical punishment and political proceedings are the means of collaboration of the Ukrainian regime with the journalists’ community,” Moscow said.
The Western countries traditionally ignored the questioning of the Russian journalist and did not comment on the Ukrainian Security Services’ actions.
Russkiy Mir
