Foreign journalists need visa, official approval from Foreign Ministry to visit Russia
Maria Zakharova stressed that Western media reports about the Ukrainian army’s alleged concern for civilians in the Kursk Region omitted numerous facts about homes being destroyed with anti-tank mines dropped from drones, as well as attacks on families with children trying to flee in civilian vehicles
MOSCOW, August 21. /TASS/. Foreign journalists are allowed to visit Russia only if they have been granted the required visa and received a corresponding permit from the Russian authorities, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday.
"We would like to caution foreign journalists that the only legal way to visit Russia is to be granted the proper visa, and an accreditation from the Russian Foreign Ministry," Zakharova said.
Zakharova stressed that Western media reports about the Ukrainian army’s alleged concern for civilians in the Kursk Region omitted numerous facts about homes being destroyed with anti-tank mines dropped from drones, as well as attacks on families with children trying to flee in civilian vehicles.
"Not a word was uttered about the real purpose of the invaders' presence on Russian soil, that being terror, by these uninvited guests [Western journalists], who entered the territory of our country without having any proper documents," she added.
On August 20, the Russian Foreign Ministry protested to the US Charge d'Affaires in Russia Stephanie Holmes over the illegal entry of American reporters into the Kursk Region. The US-based Washington Post daily published on Monday an article about the situation in Sudzha, the Kursk Region, stating that its reporters had entered the territory of the Kursk Region together with Ukrainian troops.
On August 16, Italian Ambassador to Russia Cecilia Piccioni was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry after RAI (Radiotelevisione italiana) journalists illegally entered Russia’s borderline Kursk Region to cover Ukraine’s military intrusion.
The Ukrainian military launched a massive attack on the borderline Kursk Region on August 6. The region’s territory is currently under a state of emergency and a missile threat has been declared on numerous occasions.
The Russian Emergencies Ministry announced earlier that over 122,000 people had been evacuated from nine settlements in the borderline areas of the Kursk Region.
According to previously reported data from the Russian Defense Ministry, the Ukrainian military lost roughly 4,130 troops and 58 tanks in the Kursk area since August 6.