Watchdog

The Kremlin has denounced as "completely unacceptable" the actions of Ukrainian authorities toward a reporter with Russia’s Channel One television.

Ukraine deported Aleksandra Cherepnina on July 1 for allegedly running "destructive" stories about Ukraine.

The State Security Service (SBU) said on July 2 it decided to "block the destructive actions” of Cherepnina and bar her from reentering the country for three years.

In a report about the deportation aired by Channel One, Cherepnina described being deprived by the SBU of a chance to call anyone after being detained.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ukraine had “long turned into a place where it is both hard and dangerous for reporters to work."

And Russia’s Investigative Committee announced it had launched an "illegal deprivation of liberty" probe into the incident.

Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said Ukrainian authorities “will never understand that you cannot conceal the truth by intimidating and killing reporters."

Based on reporting by AFP and TASS

MOSCOW -- The European Court of Human Rights has agreed to consider two central parts of a case filed against Russia for its handling of the bloody school hostage taking in Beslan over 10 years ago that claimed 334 lives.

The case was brought against Russia by 447 nationals who maintain the state violated several articles of the European Convention in its resolution of the crisis.

The court in Strasbourg said on July 2 it will consider their case with relation to two articles, including Article 2 on the “right to life,” seen by plaintiffs as central to their case.

In September 2004, militants stormed a school in Beslan, in the southern province of North Ossetia and took more than 1,100 children and teachers hostage.

The school was surrounded by security forces, culminating on September 3 in explosions and a hail of bullets.

Questions have persisted over whether the militants or Russian security forces initiated the final firefight.