Public Radio of Armenia. Russian journalists detained in Turkey were preparing, among other things, a report about Bayraktar drones, editor-in-chief of the Russian NTV channel Alexandra Kosharnitskaya told a TASS.
“Unfortunately, consular access to the guys was not provided. Everything we know we get from sources. The initial information we had was that they were detained for unauthorized filming of a subject sensitive to Turkish security,” said the editor-in-chief. “They prepared several materials in Turkey, and one of them was about Bayraktar drones.”
The journalists were detained in the area where the drone manufacturer’s design office is located. According to her, this is a public area. The TV company does not know if the journalists had started the filming.
“At the moment, again, based on sources including in the Turkish press, they are accused of espionage, they are in court,” Kosharnitskaya said.
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“Now (in court) the charges will be determined, we will understand what evidence these charges have, what the preventive measure will be,” she added.
“If the filming is really unauthorized, in this case there is an instant deportation, nevertheless, they have been detained since Thursday,” said the editor-in-chief of NTV.
On December 4, the Russian Foreign Ministry reported that Russian journalists Alexei Petrushko and Ivan Malyshkin, who are in Istanbul, stopped communicating.
The ministry indicated that the last time they had full contact with them was on December 3, during which the Russians reported that they were being detained by unknown persons and were being taken somewhere.
The Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 medium altitude long endurance UAVS were heavily employed during the Artsakh war. ABout a dozen were shot down by Artsakh forces.
