MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russia’s Channel One television said on Wednesday that its correspondent Kurbatova had been abducted in Kiev. The Ukrainian Security Service said later that its officers detained the reporter to forcibly return her to Russia.
"This incident can be hardly qualified as anything else but another abduction of a Russian journalist, in this case Channel One's correspondent Anna Kurbatova," Zakharova said at a news conference.
The spokeswoman explained that Moscow's assessment is based on the way the journalist was detained, as Ukrainian security officers took away Kurbatova's cell phone and identification, at first prohibiting her from contacting her family or employer to inform them about the incident.
Zakharova said that the incident came as a shock, adding that "it was not less shocking to see that none of high-ranking representatives of foreign countries put forward any assessment of Kiev's actions."
Kiev has repeatedly limited the activities of foreign and even some local opposition media outlets in Ukraine. As an example, Kiev, in March 2015 issued a list of 115 Russian media outlets which could be denied or temporarily suspended accreditation by Ukrainian authorities as the outlets "posed threats" to Ukrainian state security. As the regulation came into force, a number of Russian journalists and television reporters were denied entry to Ukraine or deported to Russia.
