Ukraine's Foreign Ministry reacts to trip of NBC journalists to occupied Crimea

Ukrainian law enforcement agencies have been checking the circumstances of the film crew of American TV channel NBC staying in the temporarily occupied Crimea.

Oleh Nikolenko, the speaker of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, wrote this on Facebook, European Pravda reports.

He marked that visiting the temporarily occupied Crimea from the territory of Russia is a violation of the legislation of Ukraine, for which liability is provided; in particular, foreigners are also banned from entering Ukraine for such actions.

"The competent authorities of Ukraine are currently establishing the circumstances of an NBC journalist's illegal visit to the territory of Crimea. Based on the results of the audit, a decision will be made on further steps," he added.

As reported by European Pravda, on Tuesday, NBC published a report from the Russian-annexed Crimea, with the reporter explicitly stating that journalists got to the peninsula in violation of Ukrainian legislation — across the Crimean Bridge.

The authors of the NBC story claim that most of their interlocutors in Crimea call it the territory of Russia. However, the channel mentions the suppression of freedom of speech on the peninsula and claims that even before the annexation of 2014, the population there was "more pro-Rusdian than in the rest of Ukraine."

The report also cites statements by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about his intentions to liberate Crimea, as well as UN calls for Russia to return to "internationally recognized borders".

Thus, NBC journalists recognised violations of Ukrainian legislation regarding entering Crimea, and also said that in the context of the suppression of freedom of speech, the testimony of people on the peninsula can adequately represent local public opinion.

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