Italian reporters to return after Russian anger at Kursk report

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ROME (Reuters) -Two Italian journalists who angered Moscow with a TV report from Ukrainian-held parts of Russia’s Kursk region will return to Italy, state broadcaster RAI said on Saturday.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry summoned Italy’s ambassador on Friday over what it called illegal border crossing by a RAI crew.

“The company decided to make journalist Stefania Battistini and cameraman Simone Traini return temporarily to Italy, solely to ensure personal safety and security,” RAI said.

Russia’s TASS news agency cited the FSB state security service as saying it has opened a criminal cases against the two journalists.

A four-person RAI crew, working under Ukrainian military escort, produced the first foreign media report from the war-damaged Russian town of Sudzha, taken last week during Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk.

The two reporters are scheduled to fly back to the northern Italian city of Milan on Sunday.

Neither Battistini, who appeared live from Kyiv on Saturday’s edition of the TG1 news programme, nor Traini were available for comment.

Italy’s foreign ministry said its ambassador Cecilia Piccioni had explained to the Russian authorities that RAI and its news teams acted independently and autonomously.

“Journalism is not a crime. The Moscow authorities’ possibility of putting Stefania Battistini and Simone Traini on trial is unacceptable. Reporting is not done with prior authorizations,” RAI union Usigrai and Italy’s national press union FNSI said in a joint statement.

(Reporting by Giulia SegretiEditing by Andrew Cawthorne and Frances Kerry)