Moscow demands release of Russian reporters detained in Ukraine

Russian parliament on Wednesday called for immediate release of two Russian reporters detained by Kiev on charges of aiding terrorism, saying they have fallen victims to provocation by Ukraine's security forces. "Members of the State Duma (Parliament's lower house) are convinced the Russian journalists have fallen victims to the deliberate provocation from Ukrainian security structures reluctant to allow uncontrolled reporters coming to the areas where combat operations and cleansing are conducted," the Duma said in a statement. The two reporters of a private Russian TV channel, Oleg Sidyakin and Marat Saichenko, were detained on Sunday in the eastern Donetsk region which declared itself an independent republic a week before. They were arrested on suspicion of " facilitating terrorism." Ukrainian authorities have alleged that the two reporters were armed and involved in terrorism, saying that a portable anti- aircraft missile was found in the vehicle of the two reporters. The Russian State Duma also accused Kiev of "hypocritical adherence" to democratic principals while actually hindering reporters to enter Ukraine and endangering their safety. It called on the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to speak out in support of freedom of speech in Ukraine. Earlier in the day, editor-in-chief of the state-run Russia Today TV, Margarita Simonyan, said the British authorities have ignored her requests to facilitate release of a British freelancer also detained in Ukraine. "They (British officials) spit on their citizens," Simonyan said on her Twitter. Graham Phillips was arrested by Ukrainian National Guards over the weekend in the Azov Sea city of Mariupol on accusation of being a Russian spy.