MOSCOW, July 2. /TASS/. The Kremlin has described Thursday as "unacceptable" the actions of Ukrainian authorities toward Russia’s Channel One journalist Alexandra Cherepnina who was deported from Kiev yesterday and called on Russian journalists to be "very careful in connection with Kiev’s intolerance toward pluralism."
"Of course, we consider such actions categorically unacceptable," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists, commenting on the incident with Cherepnina.
Ukraine has become a place "where media representatives, not only Russian, find it dangerous and hard to work, where, unfortunately, we note absolute intolerance toward media freedom, information freedom, intolerance toward pluralism," Peskov said.
"We call on all our Russian journalists to be very careful while working in Ukraine," the spokesman said, adding that this does concerns not only Donbass, but also Kiev.
However, the Kremlin does not consider responding to deportation of Cherepnina from Kiev "on principle of reciprocity" as work of Ukrainian media in Russia is protected by law, Peskov noted.
"In this case, the principle of reciprocity is hardly applicable," Peskov said, answering a question on whether reciprocal measures are possible in response to deportation of Cherepinina from Ukraine.
In this case, the principle of media freedom and information freedom is in force "which is ensured and guaranteed by a law on media," the spokesman said. "Ukrainian journalists work here and exercise absolutely all rights that this law on media provides," he noted.
On July 1, Ukraine’s Security Service deported Cherepnina from Kiev for alleged falsification of one of her news reports. She is banned from entering Ukraine for three years. Russia’s Investigative Committee launched a criminal case on charges of "unlawful deprivation of liberty" and "impeding the lawful professional activities" of Russia’s Channel One special correspondent Alexandra Cherepnina.