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Russian investigators open criminal case against Washington Examiner’s editor

Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case against an editor of the US magazine Washington Examiner Hugo Gurdon who published the article calling for blowing up the Crimean Bridge

© Vyacheslav Prokofiev/TASS

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Russia opens criminal case against US citizen who called for blowing up Crimean Bridge

MOSCOW, May 18. /TASS/. Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case against an editor of the US weekly online magazine Washington Examiner Hugo Gurdon who published the article calling for blowing up the Crimean Bridge, IC Spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko told reporters on Friday.

"After conducting checks, the Main Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against editor of the Washington Examiner weekly online magazine Hugo Gurdon. According to the investigators, Gurdon had negotiated the approval and published Tom Rogan’s article on the Washington Examiner’s website, calling for blowing up the Crimean Bridge by carrying out bomb attacks," she said.

The IC views Gurdon’s steps as terrorism propaganda, the activity on disseminating information and materials aimed at forming an ideology of terrorism among persons and an opinion that carrying out acts of terrorism is acceptable (Article 205.2 of the Russian Criminal Code). The Russian investigators earlier opened a criminal case against the article’s author Tom Rogan.

Earlier, Acting Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that "this (article with a call for blowing up the bridge) can be regarded only as madness, as an ugly manifestation of low quality journalism worthy of attention of the law enforcement agencies, including those in the United States."

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Kremlin blasts US paper’s ‘ugly journalism’ calling for blowing up Crimean Bridge

On May 15, the Washington Examiner published a provocative article by Tom Rogan, which calls for blowing up the Kerch Strait Bridge. Thus, Rogan wrote in particular that "Ukraine should now destroy elements of the bridge" and that it "has the means to launch air strikes against the bridge."

Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in the opening ceremony of the Kerch Strait Bridge’s motorway section on May 15, driving the lead vehicle of the construction equipment convoy. The construction of the bridge linking the Crimean Peninsula with mainland Russia kicked off in February 2016. The construction of its railway section continues, its opening is scheduled for 2019. The bridge originates on the Taman Peninsula, runs through a five-kilometer dike area and the Island of Tuzla, then crosses the Kerch Strait and reaches the Crimean coast.

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