Turkey frees Russian journalists after brief detention

Russia’s state-owned Sputnik news agency said four of its journalists in Turkey have been detained in Ankara on Saturday night, and then released after questioning.
The agency said that groups of aggressive people tried to break into the apartments of the journalists, who are Turkish citizens, threatening violence and accusing them of being Russian spies.
The journalists’ detention came shortly after the publication of an article in the English edition of Sputnik, titled “The ‘Stolen Province’: Why Turkey was given a corner of Syria by France 80 years ago”.
Sputnik said it lost contact with the journalists after they went to the police to report the attacks. Later, investigators raided Sputnik’s office and detained the bureau’s editor-in-chief, the agency said.
It added that the journalists were released hours after Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov discussed the matter with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu on Sunday.
OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir has also condemned the attack the journalists: “I urge the authorities to ensure the safety of foreign correspondents”, he tweeted.
Turkish authorities have not commented on the matter.