"Of course, no one has a desire to detain the journalists, if they are engaged in journalism activities. What do we do if the filmmaker, it was proved in court, was preparing to commit terrorist acts? Should he be released only because he was the film director? How does he differ from the staffing officer of military intelligence, who planned to do the same [to commit a terrorist attack]? We let go of this director today, and then we have to let go of personnel of intelligence… How do they differ from each other in this case? Today, we would let go of some, but tomorrow there will be others? We must agree to stop it. And then it will be possible to think about an amnesty [for the detained]," Putin said.
He added that directors should direct and journalists should report.
In October, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had detained Ukrainian citizen and alleged journalist Sushchenko on suspicion of collecting state secrets on the activities of the Russian Armed Forces and the National Guard troops. Sentsov was sentenced by a Russian military court in August to 20 years in jail for plotting to carry out terrorist attacks in Crimea.
