OREANDA-NEWSMoscow expects the U.S. authorities to thoroughly investigate incidents of police violence in the U.S. against RIA Novosti correspondent and producer of Sputnik, Russia's Permanent Representative to the OSCE Alexander Lukashevich said on July 2.

On May 31, RIA Novosti correspondent Mikhail Turgiev, who was covering the protests in Minneapolis, was attacked by police: he was pepper-sprayed in the face after he presented his journalistic ID and introduced himself as a press worker. The police treated the nearby group of the American television channel VICE in a similar manner.

On June 1, Sputnik's producer Nicole Roussel was injured during the covering of the protests outside the White House. Despite the fact that the journalist repeated several times that she was a member of the press and showed a press card hanging around her neck, police in Washington shot her with rubber bullets.

Lukashevich reminded that "among the journalists who suffered from police violence, despite their clear identification as such," the journalists of the Russian media are Turgiev and Roussel. "We consider it absolutely unacceptable for the police to use special means, including rubber bullets and tear gas, against media personnel performing their functions," he stated.

He expressed the hope that the American competent authorities would conduct a thorough investigation into the incidents.