Russia: Kremlin Charges Stefania Battistini Following Her Coverage of Ukrainian Incursion
Italian journalist and cameraman also subject to violent threats from pro-Russian military bloggers
Location: Russia
Date: August 17, 2024
Women Press Freedom strongly condemns the baseless charges brought by Moscow against Italian journalists Stefania Battistini and Simone Traini, who work for the Italian public broadcaster RAI. The journalists are being accused of "illegal border-crossing" after reporting on Ukraine’s counter-invasion in Russia's Kursk region. In addition, pro-Kremlin war bloggers are inciting violence against them online, urging the Russian military to target the reporters. This is a clear attempt by Russian authorities and their supporters to stifle coverage of the Ukrainian offensive. War correspondents, fulfilling their duty to report from the frontlines, should never be treated as military targets. Targeting journalists in a conflict zone is a war crime, though Russia has repeatedly disregarded the rules of war, leading to the killings and injuries of many journalists since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. We demand that Russia immediately cease its attacks on the media covering this conflict, drop these unfounded charges against the RAI journalists, and that its supporters stop threatening journalists online.
On August 17, 2024, Russia's state security service (FSB) announced it had initiated a case against two journalists from Italy’s RAI, Stefania Battistini and Simone Traini, for allegedly "illegally crossing the State Border of the Russian Federation."
Three days earlier, the journalists broadcast a report from the Kursk region of Russia. Embedded with Ukrainian Armed Forces, Battistini showed the progress of Ukraine’s surprise counter-invasion into Russia that had begun on August 9, 2024.
The footage included the reporters in an armored vehicle passing Russian road signs and arriving in the city of Sudzha, where they interviewed local residents.
The FSB claims the journalist's entry into Russia to film the report was illegal. In response to RAI’s reporting, Russia summoned Italy's ambassador to Moscow, Cecilia Piccioni, to express their protest. During the meeting, Piccioni explained that RAI, the Italian broadcaster, and its editorial teams operate independently and make decisions autonomously, according to a spokesperson from Italy's foreign ministry.
RAI planned to bring journalists Battistini and Traini back to Italy on August 18, 2024 for their safety. RAI says the decision was made solely for their personal security. In a joint statement, the RAI union Usigrai and Italy's national press union FNSI declared that "journalism is not a crime" and condemned the possibility of Moscow putting the journalists on trial, stating that reporting does not require prior authorizations.
Also triggered by RAI’s reporting, pro-Russian military bloggers—Z-Channels on Telegram—began threatening the journalists, indicating that their reporting of the conflict inside Russia made them legitimate military targets for the Russian army. They incited violence and issued death threats against the journalists.
Another Telegram channel, run by Russian state TV propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, reposted a message stating that "the Italian journalist violated the criminal code of the Russian Federation and illegally crossed the border with terrorist formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine." The post also claimed that the report was shown by the Italian public broadcaster RAI, which "apparently ordered the material and encourages such actions."
Battistini responded to the threats online and from the Russian government, explaining that the RAI team was in Kursk doing their job reporting. They were each clearly marked with Press vests and helmets, which were a different color from those of the Ukrainian forces, in compliance with international law.
Italian journalists associations and the European Federation of Journalists have expressed solidarity with Battistini and Traini in light of the threats.
Women Press Freedom has consistently documented Russia’s rising violations against journalists both within and beyond its borders. Its war of aggression in Ukraine has resulted in the killing of at least eight women journalists, with many others suffering injuries. Threatening Battistini and her cameraman for reporting from inside Russia, on the frontlines of the Kursk battle, is a ploy to deter other news outlets and reporters from daring to report the facts on the ground. Within Russia, the state has strangled all independent and truthful reporting on the war by enacting military censorship laws, shutting down outlets, imprisoning journalists, and forcing those who want to report accurately to flee the country.
This military incursion by the Armed Forces of Ukraine into Russian territory has seen Putin and his cronies desperate to control the media narrative. Reports of hundreds of Russian prisoners of war being captured by the Ukrainians and multiple takeovers of Russian villages leading to civilian evacuations are striking events in the war and should be reported by media outlets globally.
Women Press Freedom stands in complete solidarity with Stefania Battistini and cameraman Simone Traini against the violent threats online and the baseless legal action from the Kremlin. The work of brave reporters like Battistini and her fellow war correspondents is vital in documenting the war. The Kremlin’s war on truth, alongside its brutal war of aggression on Ukraine, aims to intimidate those who accurately report this conflict. We resoundingly condemn the Russian government and its supporters and demand an end to its vicious attacks against the press.
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