Russia summons US diplomat over Kursk media reporting

Russia said Tuesday it had summoned a US diplomat over reports in the US media from part of its Kursk region captured by Ukraine, warning it will investigate journalists for “illegally” crossing its border.

Russia has furiously denounced some Western media for reporting from the area controlled by Ukrainian forces since their surprise incursion, opening a criminal probe against Italian journalists for a TV report from there.

Moscow’s foreign ministry said it called in the US embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission Stephanie Holmes to “declare a strong protest in connection with the provocative actions of American reporters who illegally entered the Kursk region.”

It did not name the media but said it planned “necessary investigative actions to bring them (the reporters) to justice.”

Several US media have published reports from inside Sudzha — the main town the Ukrainians have taken over — in recent days.

The foreign ministry said “such actions” show the US is a “direct participant” in the conflict with Kyiv — an argument Moscow has long used to portray Ukraine as a country which does not make its own decisions.

Russia has been rattled by Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region, launched on August 6.

Throughout Moscow’s more than two-year offensive in Ukraine, Russian war correspondents have reported from towns and cities Moscow has conquered.

The Kremlin does not allow any independent or critical reporting of its actions in Ukraine.