Russia opens criminal investigation into CNN correspondent for reporting in Ukrainian-occupied Russia

The Russian government has opened a criminal investigation into a CNN correspondent for reporting from Ukrainian-occupied Russia, an assignment defended by the news network.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN’s chief international security correspondent, at the invitation of the Ukrainian government, was escorted by their military last week to Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk region to report on Ukraine’s surprise cross-border incursion and occupation.

Russia’s main internal security agency, the Federal Security Service (FSB), said in a statement that it had “initiated and is investigating criminal cases” against Paton Walsh and two Ukrainian journalists.

It accused them of having “illegally crossed the State Border of the Russian Federation and filmed in the area of​​the Sudzha settlement in the Kursk Region.”

CNN said in a statement: “Throughout this conflict our team has delivered factual, impartial reporting covering both the Ukrainian and Russian perspectives on the war.”

“Our team was invited by the Ukrainian government, along with other international journalists, and escorted by the Ukrainian military to view territory it had recently occupied. This is protected activity in accordance with the rights afforded to journalists under the Geneva Convention and international law.”

The FSB said that the journalists would be placed on an “international wanted list.” It is not clear to which list the FSB referred.