BBC treats attack on journalists in Astrakhan as pre-planned action

The attack on the filming crew of the BBC in Astrakhan was a pre-planned action and had to do with the fact that the journalists were investigating reports about deaths of Russian servicemen in the area of the Russian-Ukrainian border, the BBC reports.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported than on September 18, members of the Moscow BBC office were attacked by unidentified men in Astrakhan while filming a story of the deaths of Russian soldiers near the border with Ukraine. According to the journalists, at least three violent men attacked them, the attackers seized the reporters' camera and beat up the camera man. While the reporters spent several hours giving testimonies to the police, someone got into their car and erased the video records from the memory cards.

Prior to the attack, the crew managed to sent a part of the footage to London, namely, an interview with a sister of one of the perished soldiers, a source from the press service of the BBC in London told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent, adding that "this material by Steve Rosenberg, a crew member, is posted on the website of the Russian BBC news service."

According to the source, the BBC has already sent an official protest "regarding the intimidation of journalists in Russia" to the Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

Today, the BBC issued a statement saying that the filming crew was exposed to "a clearly coordinated attack."

"The attack on our people and the destruction of equipment and records were clearly a part of a pre-planned attempt to interfere with the legitimate work of accredited journalists on a news story. We condemn this act of violence against our journalists and call on the Russian authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident and express a public condemnation of the attack on our staff," says the statement posted on the website of the BBC.

Dunja Mijatovic, the OSCE Representative on the Freedom of the Media, has urged the Russian authorities to ensure a transparent investigation into the incident.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.