The journalists, who work for the Italian public broadcaster RAI, stand 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,” the Coalition For Women In Journalism says.

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, not file these unfounded charges against the RAI journalists, and that its supporters stop threatening journalists online.