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Russian journalists attacked in Belgium do not seek help from Russian embassy

At present the Russian diplomats are verifying the information about the assault and are ready to provide any necessary support to the victims
Police on the street in Molenbeek neighborhood, Brussels AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert
Police on the street in Molenbeek neighborhood, Brussels
© AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert

MOSCOW, November 19. /TASS/. The NTV journalists who were attacked in Molenbeek, a poor neighborhood of Brussels, have not sought help from the Russian Embassy in Belgium or from the Russian Consulate, the press service of the Russian Embassy told TASS.

"To date, the Russian journalists have not sought help from the Russian Embassy and the Consulate. Nor did they ask to re-issue their IDs. At present our diplomats are verifying the information about the assault and are ready to provide any necessary support to the victims," the embassy noted.

"The embassy recommends Russian citizens to refrain from visiting Molenbeek district," it said.

A crew of Russia’s NTV television was attacked in Brussels. The TV channel reported earlier on Thursday that the crew had been in the northern outskirts of Brussels looking for relatives or friends of the terrorist who had committed a suicide attack at the Stade de France stadium in Paris.

"The first with whom we spoke was a group of teenagers, maybe ten people. The oldest was perhaps no more than 20 years old. And just a couple of minutes after the interview began one of them attacked the cameraman trying to snatch the camera. He was beating him with his fists and feet and then the whole crowd pounced on us. They were beating both of us knocking us to the ground. They beat us until they took away a backpack with the documents, the money and a laptop," the NTV report quotes journalist Konstantin Panyushkin as saying.

The report noted that several teens from among the attackers had been detained.