Alsu Kurmasheva serves as an editor for RFL/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir Service.
October 19, 2023, 5:56 AM
LONDON — A journalist with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has been detained in Russia and charged with failure to register as a foreign agent, the news outlet said on Wednesday.
Alsu Kurmasheva, who serves as an editor for the outlet’s Tatar-Bashkir Service, is a dual U.S.-Russian citizen, RFE/RL said.
“Alsu is a highly respected colleague, devoted wife, and dedicated mother to two children,” the outlet’s acting President Dr. Jeffrey Gedmin said in a statement. “She needs to be released so she can return to her family immediately.”
In this handout frame released by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, editor Alsu Kurmasheva poses for a photo during a work break at the outlet’s headquarters in Prague, Czech Republic, March 6, 2013.
Claire Bigg/AP
Kurmasheva, who lives in Prague, traveled to Russia for a “family emergency” in May and was detained at the airport in Kazan as she awaited her return flight on June 2, RFE/RL said. Officials took her U.S. and Russian passports.
“She was subsequently fined for failure to register her U.S. passport with Russian authorities,” the outlet said in a statement. “She was awaiting the return of her passports when the new charge was announced on October 18.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York non-profit, said in a statement that the charges were “spurious.” The group called for Kurmasheva’s immediate release.
“Journalism is not a crime and Kurmasheva’s detention is yet more proof that Russia is determined to stifle independent reporting.”
Source: abc news
