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Violence against journalists

Russia's Ambassador to UN: Russian journalists' murder in Ukraine could be deliberate

Vitaly Churkin says a thorough investigation of this crime is required

© ИТАР-ТАСС/ЕРА/SERGEI ILNITSKY

THE UNITED NATIONS, June 24. /ITAR-TASS/. The recent killing of Russian journalists in Ukraine as a result of mortar shelling could have been deliberate, Russia's Ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, said at a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday.

"A thorough investigation of this crime is required," the diplomat said. "Too much evidence points to the fact that this action was intentional."

The Russian state-run VGTRK media corporation's correspondent Igor Kornelyuk and video engineer Anton Voloshin were killed by mortar fire on June 17 near the eastern Ukrainian city of Lugansk, a place of combat clashes between Ukrainian military forces and self-defence militia. Their cameraman, Viktor Denisov was lucky to escape the death as he was at a distance from the TV crew. All the reporters were wearing signs marked PRESS.

On the same day, the UN SC adopted a media statement calling for a probe into all the incidents when violence was used against reporters working in Ukraine.

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