WASHINGTON, July 22. /TASS/. Russia’s embassy to the United States has handed a note of protest to the US Department of State over an attack on reporters of Russia’s Channel One in the US city of Portland, Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said on Wednesday.
The Russian diplomatic mission said on its Facebook page quoting Antonov as saying that in the early hours of July 22, "correspondent Yulia Olkhovskaya and cameraman Vyacheslav Arkhipov were inadmissibly treated by local police."
"The press workers identified themselves loudly and clearly, showing press cards and offering no resistance," Antonov stressed.
"A note of protest has been sent to the Department of State over this outrageous fact. We demand that a thorough investigation should be conducted and we should be informed about its results," Antonov said adding that the US authorities had not replied yet to the "May 31 note of protest over a police attack" on RIA Novosti correspondent Mikhail Turgiyev.
"We promptly contacted the Russians. Their health is not worrying and they do not need medical assistance," Antonov added. "We recommended that they keep a safe distance from the opposing sides."
The ambassador said that according to human rights activists, "the number of incidents with the press has already surpassed 500."
"This year, the United States will evidently top the world ratings in this nomination," the Russian ambassador assumed. "I would like to point out that our journalists are given neither solidarity nor moral support by local media workers," the diplomat concluded underlying that the embassy intends to "insist that the incident be taken into consideration by the human rights organizations that monitor violations of media workers’ rights in the United States."
Earlier, Channel One’s press office said that its film crew were injured in an attack by "camouflaged men" in Portland, where protests have been ongoing since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in late May.