Russia detains video journalist who worked for late dissident Navalny

New York: Russia detained another journalist from the country, who worked for the international news agency Associated Press, charging extremism. Russia accused the journalist of making videos for the team of late Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, Agence France-Presse reported.

The arrestee, Sergei Karelin, was detained on Sunday, a day after another journalist, Konstantin Gabov, who occasionally worked for the global news agency Reuters, was detained.

AP told AFP that it is very concerned about the detention of video journalist Karelin, and the agency is trying to get more information.

The court’s press service informed on Telegram that Gabov will remain in pre-trial detention until June 27. Gabov used to work for Russian television channels Moskva 24 and MIR. He also worked for Belarusian news agency Belsat.

Both Karelin and Gabov were accused of helping prepare videos for the YouTube channel NavalnyLIVE, which was run by Navalny’s team.

It was in February this year that Navalny died in an Artic prison under murky circumstances. He was a frontline critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and his movement was designated as extremist. Most of his allies are in exile or serving lengthy sentences in prison.

In recent months, the Russian administration has stepped up its suppression of independent and foreign media to silence dissent against Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine.

Russia detained photographer Antonina Kravtsova in March, alleging “extremism”, after her frequent coverage of Navalny’s trials. Sergei Mingazov, who works for the Russian version of Forbes Media, was detained on Friday and was charged with spreading “false information” about the Russian army’s abuses in Ukraine.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich is facing charges of spying.