Syria regime detains one of Russia’s best-known war correspondents
During the past two months, Oleg Blokhin has been attempting to travel to Russia to cover the Ukraine war and his detention was seemingly a precautionary measure to control his movements.
Syrian regime intelligence detained Russian war correspondent Oleg Blokhin on Sunday, according to Russian media reports.
The reasons for the detention are unknown but according to a report from the Readovka website, Blokhin’s relationship with Moscow’s current military leadership in Syria has been poor recently.
Blokhin had been attempting to travel to Russia during the past two months to cover the Ukraine war and his detention was seemingly a precaution taken to control his movements.
The journalist could end up being deported to Ukraine, where he allegedly holds citizenship.
Blokhin was detained at 5pm on Sunday by regime intelligence, according to according to Andrey Medvedev, a Russian journalist whose Telegram post was cited by Syrian opposition news website Enab Baladi.
Medvedev called Blokhin a “man of incredible courage”, saying he “worked throughout the entire Syrian conflict at the very edge”.
He added that the Blokhin filmed during Russian-backed military assaults on Aleppo and Palmyra.
Russian outlet Novorosinform said Blokhin was arrested “at the request of Russian command”.
Blokhin is perhaps the most famous Russian war correspondent to have accompanied his country’s military in Syria including Idlib.
Moscow intervened in Syria’s civil war in 2015 on the side of President Bashar Al-Assad’s regime.
Along with Iran and Hezbollah, Russia is one of the regime’s key allies.
Source: The New Arab
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