UNITED NATIONS, March 14. /TASS/. Russia is not responsible for the death of American journalist Brent Renaud in Ukraine, since the area around Irpen, where he was killed, is controlled by Ukrainian troops, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia said on Monday.

"My American colleague (US Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Richard Mills - TASS) has mentioned journalist Brent Renaud’s death in Irpen, who was allegedly killed by Russian forces. We deplore all who was killed in the conflict," he said. "But I would like to specify two things. First, he [Renaud] was not a journalist and the New York Times refuted it immediately. Information is disseminated in the internet that his activities were far from journalism. And second, Irpen is totally controlled by the Ukrainian army and Ukrainian territorial defense units."

"According to Renaud’s colleague, who survived the incident, fire at their car was opened by Ukrainian troops," Nebenzia added.

Cliff Levy, New York Times deputy managing editor, said on Sunday that American journalist Brent Renaud, whose death was reported by Ukraine’s authorities, was not working for the New York Times. CNN reported earlier citing Ukrainian authorities that one American journalist was killed in the Kiev region and another one was wounded.