Russia Pursues No Campaign Against Ukrainian, Other Media

There can be no campaigns in Russia against Ukrainian and other media outlets, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said earlier in the day it had detained Ukrainian citizen Roman Sushchenko on suspicion of collecting state secrets on the activities of the Russian Armed Forces and the National Guard troops.

"There are no and cannot be any any campaigns against Ukrainian or other media working in Russia," Peskov told reporters. "But at the same time there are certain procedures, including accreditation with the Foreign Ministry and so on. Of course these procedures must be carried out."

The FSB maintains Sushchenko is a member of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's chief intelligence office, and the Russian Foreign Ministry says he had not applied for a journalist visa.

"This is the common work of special services, this issue is not on the Kremlin's agenda," Peskov stressed when asked if President Vladimir Putin was briefed about the detention.

The Ukrainian National News Agency (Ukrinform) confirmed earlier in the day that Sushchenko had been its own correspondent since 2002, who had been working in France since 2010. According to the media outlet, the correspondent was on vacation at the time of the arrest and visited Moscow for private purposes.