A journalist from Pskov recognized as an “foreign agent” was summoned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs over news of a spill of chemicals during military exercises

Denis Kamalyagin, editor-in-chief of Pskov Province, who was recognized as a “foreign agent” by the media at the end of last year, was summoned to the Center for Countering Extremism of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Center “E”) because of the news of an emergency during military exercises in the Pskov Region. About it informs in Telegram edition only.

The reason was news, published on September 8 following a press release from the Porkhovsky District Prosecutor’s Office. It was about the spill of chemicals during military exercises near Pskov. In a note saidthat due to the spill of chemicals at the landfill in the Strugokrasnensky district, four people were injured. On September 7, the Ministry of Emergency Situations began to eliminate the consequences of the incident, the prosecutor’s office began an inspection.

Later, the “Pskov province” had to publish refutation this news. The Ministry of Emergency Situations called the message “fake” and “informational stuffing”, noting that the department did not know anything about the spill of chemicals at the landfill. The prosecutor’s office, on whose press release the note was written, reported an alleged hack of e-mail.

In the center “E” Kamalyagin was told that one of the employees of the regional department of the Ministry of Emergency Situations had complained to the police. In the “Pskov province” notedthat the letter about the chemical spill went to the editorial offices of other media outlets and administrations. “The letter was sent to all media outlets. But not a single pro-government agency took this information, as if they knew that it was a fake, as if it was a provocation purely for me, ”Kamalyagin said.

Chief editor of the “Pskov province” included in the register of media – “foreign agents” in December 2020. Together with him, human rights activist Lev Ponomarev, activist Daria Apakhonchich from St. Petersburg, as well as the journalists of Radio Liberty and 7×7 Sergei Markelov and Lyudmila Savitskaya were included in the first list of natural persons – “foreign agents”.