MOSCOW, May 22 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow believes that the refusal of Kiev’s authorities to allow lawyers and Russian embassy representatives to visit detained Russian journalists in Ukraine is a violation of international law, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said Thursday.
“We believe that not allowing the representatives of our consulate, and more scandalous, the lawyers [defending] the Russian citizens, to visit our citizens, is a completely flagrant lawlessness,” Lukashevich said.
“We decisively condemn such actions, and we consider it as grossest neglect of the Geneva agreements and also violation of a whole range of Ukraine’s commitments under various conventions and also the commitments before the OSCE in the humanitarian and human rights sphere,” he said.
Lukashevich added that Moscow was concerned that the West was refusing to discuss the situation within the United Nations Security Council.
“We expect as well the participation in releasing Russian media workers, of all states respecting the general democratic standards and norms, and having at least some impact on Kiev,” Lukashevich said.
The fate of two LifeNews journalists detained in Ukraine remains unknown and they have not been allowed to consult lawyers and human rights officials after four days of captivity, a member of Russia’s Presidential Council on Human Rights said Thursday. Human rights defenders and lawyers have not been allowed to visit the journalists or obtain credible information about their condition.
LifeNews journalists Oleg Sidyakin and Marat Saichenko were detained May 18 by the Ukrainian National Guard near the city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region. Ukrainian authorities accused them of promoting terrorism in the east. Russian authorities have demanded their immediate release.
Reports on May 20 said RT’s contributing journalist Graham Phillips was detained by the National Guard at a check point in Mariupol, in eastern Ukraine. Earlier Thursday, Ukraine’s Security Service handed Phillips over to the consul of the British embassy in Kiev.
Over the past two months, reporters of Russia’s leading channels have been kidnapped, beaten, threatened and denied access to Ukraine. Broadcasting of Russian media has also been banned across the country.
