Two Russian journalists from Zvezda TV channel recently released from detention in Ukraine plan to give testimony regarding incident at Russian Investigative Committee. "We will go to Investigative Committee now, following this press conference, where we will talk with competent agencies. We have already talked on phone, and they gave us some time, to collect our thoughts. And now we can talk calmly," Anton Malyshev, one of the two journalists, says at press conference on Tuesday.
He dismissed the accusation by Ukrainian authorities that the two journalists were collecting intelligence on a checkpoint's operations. "This was the National Guard (who detained the journalists). They didn't introduce themselves, these were people in military uniforms without insignia, in balaclavas," Malyshev said. He said the two were not aware of details of their release. "We were simply brought to the border, where "polite people" met us," Malyshev said.
He said the people who detained them put sacks on their heads, handcuffed them, and pushed them into a tent and then forced them into a car. "When we stopped, we were allowed to take a shower at a local SBU (Security Service) department, then we were put into another car with more adequate guys. Those handed us over to diplomats, who then returned us to our people so that we could go home," he said.
Russian TV reporters held without water or food in Ukrainian captivity
Malyshev said Sushenkov and himself had been held in different cells, one of them being an individual cell and the other designed for seven men. They were told not to talk, or otherwise the only window was shut, and so the inmates could hardly breathe. It turned out, however, that some of those held in the cell were citizens of Ukraine suspected of assisting the "militia".
"The main question we were asked is whether we work for some special or intelligence services. They were mainly trying to get some information on this matter. They were saying that nobody remembered about us in Russia and that we were forgotten there. Brandishing pistols in front of us all the time.
They cicked me in the kidneys, the liver, and the head, where no bruises are left. I feared to ask for a drink or to be let alone for making a call," Malyshev said. The second journalist detained by Ukrainian authorities, Andrey Sushenkov, said he was not beaten but was threatened regularly, including with a pistol and jail.
"They asked why we turned up in Donetsk while we were traveling for the inauguration. As a matter of fact, we had information that, following inauguration, Petr Poroshenko planned to visit Donbas, and this is why we were waiting for him there," Sushenkov said.
Sushenkov and Malyshev said earlier that they were held in Ukraine almost without water for two days. Cameraman Andrei Sushenkov and sound engineer Anton Malyshev were detained at a checkpoint near Slovyansk on June 6. The journalists were accused of collecting intelligence regarding the checkpoint's functioning.
Released Russian TV journalists arrive in Moscow from Kharkov
Zvezda television channel journalists Andrei Sushenkov and Anton Malyshev who had been freed in Ukraine arrived in Moscow from Kharkov, Zvezda said. Sushenkov and Malyshev were set free early on Monday morning. The media said they crossed the border through the Nekhoteyevka border control post in the Belgorod region.
Sushenkov and Malyshev officially arrived in Ukraine to cover the inauguration of Ukrainian President Elect Petr Poroshenko.
The Ukrainian National Guard detained them near the town of Bylbasovka, in the vicinity of Slavyansk, on June 6.
Sushenkov told the channel producer seated in Moscow on the phone that they were being searched at a National Guard post in Bylbasovka and their documents had been seized. Contact with the journalists was lost after that.
The Zvezda filming crew was accused of allegedly spying on the roadblock and gathering certain information.
The journalists said their passports were seized at the roadblock near Slavyansk; they were forced to wear masks and get on a helicopter.
They spent two days in a tight and stuffy room, without practically drinking any water, in the full blaze of the sun, where temperatures soared up to 50 degrees Celsius.
"We were hungry, hot and dirty. They did not quite torture us but manhandled us in an attempt to find out whether we were working for security services as some spies," the journalists recalled, Interfax reports.
Russian TV journalists released in Ukraine, Russia to open criminal case on reporters detention
Russian journalists of the Zvezda (or "Star") television network, who were detained in Ukraine on June 6 have been released, the Russia-24 TV channel reported early Monday. The Zvezda TV network later confirmed the fact of release of its reporters in Ukraine. "The journalists of the Zvezda TV channel are free!" said the announcement on the TV network's website.
"The video camera operator and the engineer were turned over to the Russian side at the Nekhoteyevka international border-crossing station (Belgorod Region). They are to be airlifted to Moscow by a special plane of the Defense Ministry," a source at the TV network said.
Zvezda journalists Andrei Sushenkov and Anton Malyshev arrived in Ukraine to cover the inauguration of Petr Poroshenko. But in the evening of June 6 after they arrived at a checkpoint in Donetsk Region no one could get in touch with them.
The head of the Zvezda TV network, the Human Rights Council, the Journalists Unions of Russia and Moscow, and the European Commission urged Ukraine to release the Russian reporters.
According to the latest information, the TV journalists have successfully landed in Moscow, says the announcement on the TV network's webpage.
Russia's Investigative Committee will open a criminal case on the detention in Ukraine of reporters from Zvezda TV channel, the Committee's spokesperson, Vladimir Markin said.
Russian Embassy requests Kiev to explain journalists' detention
The Russian Embassy in Ukraine has demanded that Ukrainian authorities state the reasons for the detention of the two Russian Zvezda TV channel employees and to set them free as soon as possible. "The General Consulate of Russia in Kharkov was instructed to keep the issue under constant operational control," press secretary of the Russian Embassy in Ukraine Oleg Grishin told the Zvezda TV channel.
"We have sent inquiries to the Ukrainian authorities with a request for the release the Russian citizens as soon as possible and to name the reasons for their detention," the representative of the Consulate said.
Russian TV Reps urge foreign colleagues to help release reporters
Representatives of Russia's Zvezda television channel have urged their foreign colleagues to help seek the release of reporters Andrei Sushenkov and Anton Malyshev and not to allow people with weapons to dictate what journalists may, and may not, write and say. Ukraine's National Guard detained Zvezda's cameraman Andrei Sushenkov and sound engineer Anton Malyshev near Slavyansk on June 6.
The reporters officially entered Ukraine for the purpose of covering the inauguration of Ukraine's newly-elected President, Petr Poroshenko, the Zvezda television channel says in its appeal.
"At 05:30 pm Moscow time (01:30 pm GMT), cameraman Andrei Sushenkov told his producer in Moscow by telephone that they were being checked at a National Guard checkpoint near Bylbvasovka and that their documents had been taken away. After that, all communication with the journalists went dead," the Zvezda channel said in its appeal.
"Help us save our guys! The Ukrainian troops have abducted our colleagues Andrei Sushenkov and Anton Malyshev. Together, we can return them home," the appeal published in English and Russian says.
"Since Russian television channels, including Zvezda, are banned in Ukraine, we are asking journalists around the globe and the world community to respond to our request to release our colleagues," the staff of the Zvesda TV channel went on to say.
"Do not stay aside! Do not let people armed with weapons decide what we can write and say. Save our guys!" the Russian TV channel's representatives stressed.
Meanwhile, Konstantin Dolgov, the Russian Foreign Ministry Ombudsman for Human Rights, Democracy and Rule of Law, said on Saturday that the capture of two Russian Zvezda television channel journalists in Ukraine was a gross violation of freedom of speech and media.
"The Kiev authorities should immediately release the Zvezda television channel journalists. It is necessary to stop the unlawful seizures of Russian journalists," Dolgov tweeted in his blog.
He called for introducing personal responsibility for journalists' seizures and solidarity in exerting international pressure on the authorities in Kiev.
"We will continue using all diplomatic channels, such as the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), to ensure that our journalists returned home safe and sound," Dolgov went on to say.
Ukraine's National Guard detained Zvezda's cameraman Andrei Sushenkov and sound engineer Anton Malyshev near the Bylbasovka populated locality near Slavyansk on June 6.
The Ukrainian authorities have not yet given any explanations as to why the journalists were detained.
"An end to the punitive operation in the southeast of Ukraine and the release of Russian journalists will be the first tests for (Ukrainian President) Petr Poroshenko's commitment to democracy," Dolgov wrote.
Earlier on Saturday, he confirmed that the Russian embassy in Kiev had joined efforts to release the journalists and had sent an appropriate letter and inquiry to the OSCE.
The Zvezda television channel has also sent an inquiry to Ukraine's Security Service seeking clarification of the reason for the reporters' detention.
The Russian authorities, the European Commission, the journalistic community and human rights activists have demanded the immediate release of Andrei Sushenkov and Anton Malyshev.
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