The Russian government has opened a criminal case against CNN’s Nick Paton Walsh. The network’s international security editor is accused of illegally crossing the Russian border alongside Ukrainian journalists Olesia Borovyk and Diana Butsko and venturing into Ukrainian-occupied territory in the Kursk region.
According to the independent newspaper The Moscow Times, a Russian Federal Security Service spokesperson has told the state-run Interfax news agency that criminal charges have been filed against Paton Walsh, Borovyk and Butsko. The journalists are currently on an international wanted list. If arrested and convicted, they could face up to five years in prison.
“Throughout this conflict, our team has delivered factual, impartial reporting covering both the Ukrainian and Russian perspectives on the war,” a CNN spokesperson tells TVNewser about the evolving situation.
“Our team was invited by the Ukrainian government, along with other international journalists, and escorted by the Ukrainian military to view the territory it had recently occupied,” the spokesperson added. “This is protected activity in accordance with the rights afforded to journalists under the Geneva Convention and international law.”
Paton Walsh was one of the first journalists to report from the Ukrainian-held town of Sudzha. He was traveling along with the military when he filed that report.
“It’s very surreal to be inside Russia with Ukrainian forces leading the way.”@npwcnn gained some of the first access to Ukrainian-held Russia, witnessing their control over the town of Sudzha and the intensity of the fight. pic.twitter.com/gjkBaJQEcR
— CNN International PR (@cnnipr) August 16, 2024
The criminal case against Paton Walsh comes weeks after Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich returned from Russia in a prisoner swap overseen by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Gershkovich was arrested in March 2023 on charges of espionage and spent a year-and-a-half in Russian custody.
