MOSCOW, June 18 (RIA Novosti) – Russian investigators believe the detention of journalists from Russian television channel Zvezda in Ukraine were carried out with the knowledge of Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and Dnipropetrovsk Region Governor Ihor Kolomoyskyi, official spokesman for Russia’s Investigative Committee (IC) Vladimir Markin said Wednesday.
“The investigators believe the kidnapping of Zvezda television channel journalists Sushenkov and Malyshev, [and] the illegal detention of journalists Davydov and Konashenkov from the same channel and several other Russian journalists were conducted with the knowledge of Avakov, Kolomoyskyi and Ministry of Defense senior officials,” Markin said.
The IC has launched a criminal probe into Avakov and Kolomoyskyi, who are suspected of “organizing murders, using banned means and methods of warfare, abducting people and preventing legal journalistic activities."
