RAI journalists who reported from Kursk 'risk charges'

(ANSA) - ROME, AUG 16 - The Russian interior ministry intends to press criminal charges against two Italian journalists who reported from the region of Kursk, the Russian Telegram news channel Baza reported on Friday.
    The journalists would be charged under "article 322 of the criminal code of the Russian Federation over the illegal crossing of State borders", wrote Baza.
    RAI reporters "Stefania Battistini and Simone Traini could be prosecuted", according to the news outlet, which recalled that the TG1 newscast of RAI's first television channel "reported from the city of Sudzha", which is located in Russia's Kursk region near the border with Ukraine.
    Meanwhile Italy's RAI union Usigrai and journalists' union Fnsi issued a joint statement on Friday slamming the allegation that the pair could be criminally prosecuted as "unacceptable".
    "Journalism is not a crime.
    "The hypothesis that Moscow's authorities could prosecute Stefania Battistini and Simone Traini who entered Russian territory with Ukrainian troops for a report for Tg1 is unacceptable.
    "Information cannot be provided with preventative authorizations.
    "Reporting a war is always difficult and withstands the most varied forms of pressure.
    "Threatening those who provide information with a criminal trial is one of them", said the statement. (ANSA).