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Claims on Vyshinsky’s Owning Gun ‘Doubtful’ - Russian Rights Council Chairman

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The claims that RIA Novosti Ukraine news portal head Kirill Vyshinsky was in possession of a gun do not appear to be trustworthy, Mikhail Fedotov, the chairman of the Russian Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, told Sputnik.
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"Such reports cause natural mistrust because the notion of a journalist does not match up with firearms. The weapons of a journalist are a writing pen, a laptop, a microphone, a television camera, but not a gun. This fact alone immediately causes great doubt," Fedotov said.

The rights’ council is sure that the case is politically motivated and urged the most transparent investigation into the incident, the chairman noted.

Last week, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said that it had found in a safety deposit box belonging to Vyshinsky over $200,000, a gun and a contract of employment with Sputnik International Information Agency.

READ MORE: Ukrainian Security Service Reveals Content of Vyshinsky's Safe Deposit Box

Vyshinsky's Lawyers Send Request to Strip Client of Ukrainian Citizenship
On May 15, the SBU broke into the office of RIA Novosti Ukraine in Kiev. Vyshinsky was detained on charges of treason the same day. The SBU also accused him of supporting the self-proclaimed people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in Ukraine's southeast. On May 17, a court in the Ukrainian city of Kherson ruled to arrest Vyshinsky for 60 days without bail.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in turn, has stated that Vyshinsky was arrested directly for his professional activity and performance of his journalist functions. The Russian president stressed that Vyshinsky's arrest constituted an unprecedented and absolutely unacceptable policy of the Ukrainian authorities and expressed his hope that it would be adequately reflected in the reaction of the journalistic community and international human rights organizations.

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