MOSCOW, December 7. /TASS/. Russian NTV journalists, apprehended in Turkey, were working on a report on the Bayraktar drones, NTV Editor-in-Chief Alexandra Kosharnitskaya told TASS.
"Unfortunately, we were not provided consular access to the guys. Everything that we know, we get only from sources, sources and more sources. According to the information that we had initially, they were apprehended for filming a sensitive Turkish security facility," she said. "They were working on several reports in Turkey, including one on the Bayraktar drones used in Ukraine."
The journalists were apprehended in a district, where the design bureau of Bayraktar drones producer, Baykar Savunma, is located. According to Kosharnitskaya, this district is not off limits to the public. The broadcasting company is unaware whether the journalists actually began filming.
"Currently - once again, according to the source, including the Turkish press - they are accused of espionage and are currently in court," Kosharnitskaya said. "The court will now determine the charges and we will see what evidence is behind the charges and what detention measure is chosen."
"If filming is unauthorized, then usually immediate deportation follows; however, they have been in detention since Thursday," the editor-in-chief said.
On December 4, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported that Russian journalists Alexei Petrushko and Ivan Malyshkin, who were in Istanbul at that moment, stopped responding, adding that the last proper contact with them was on December 3, when the Russians said they were being arrested by unidentified people and were being taken somewhere. The NTV broadcasting company disclosed that their employees dropped out of contact after reporting that they were being apprehended by the Istanbul police.