MOSCOW, August 22. /TASS/. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has opened a criminal case after a CNN reporter and two Ukrainian journalists illegally crossed the border near Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk Region, the FSB Public Relations Center said.

"The Federal Security Service has opened and is investigating criminal cases under Article 322, Part 3 of Russia’s Criminal Code with regard to US journalist Nick Paton Walsh and Ukrainian correspondents Olesya Nikolayevna Borovik and Diana Vladimirovna Butsko who illegally crossed the state border of the Russian Federation and filmed videos in the vicinity of the town of Sudzha in the Kursk Region," the press service said.

The FSB reiterated that earlier, similar charges had been brought against Italian journalists Simone Traini and Stefania Battistini for illegally crossing the Russian border in the Kursk Region.

"This article of the Russian Criminal Code carries a punishment of incarceration of up to five years," the FSB said.