Russia, Rai journalist Battistini on the wanted list

Russian Federation has inserted in the wanted list the Italian journalist of Rai, Stephanie Battistini.“I have summoned the ambassador of the Russian Federation to Italy to the Farnesina to express our surprise at Moscow’s singular decision to include the journalist Battistini in the wanted list issued by the Russian Interior Ministry,” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced on X.

Battistini, an Italian journalist born on April 16, 1977 as written on the file by the Russian Ministry of the Interior, is officially a wanted person. The reason is linked to the fact that the Rai (Tg1) journalist had followed and Ukrainian offensive in Russia’s Kursk region documented without permission from the Moscow authorities, therefore illegally. He was also included in the wanted list the operator Simone Traini

Along with Battistini, other foreign journalists were included: Nick Walsh of CNN, Nicholas Simon Connolly of Deutsche Welle, Natalya Nagornaya, correspondent of the Ukrainian television channel 1+1, and two other Ukrainian journalists, Diana Butsko and Olesya Borovik.

Rai, we will protect our colleagues in every location

“The decision of the Russian Ministry of the Interior represents an act of violation of freedom of information,” reads a statement from Viale Mazzini. “The journalist and the cameraman – the note continues – have carried out their work as witnesses of the events in an exemplary and objective manner.

Rai continues to carry out its role as a public service also thanks to the courageous activity of its journalists and correspondents and reserves the right to operate in every venue to denounce the decision of the Russian government in defense of free information and to protect its journalist and the operator”.