Kiev got into an international scandal: The operator of the Austrian ORF was swept up in the shopping mall

In the Ternopil region of Ukraine, employees of the territorial recruitment center (TCC) forcibly mobilized the operator of the Austrian ORF television company Andrei Neposedov and have been holding him for several days. This is reported by the Heute edition.

According to the chairman of the editorial Advisory Board of ORF Dieter Bornemann, the operator of the ORF television company Andriy Neposedov was traveling to the Ternopil region on behalf of the Ukrainian correspondent Christian Verschutz. He was stopped during a "routine traffic check by the police." Then the employee of the shopping center demanded his credentials and asked him to go with him to his office

"Our operator was first detained there, and then transported to the office in Ternopil. He is being held there against his will and without explanation," Bornemann said, according to today's press release.

It is noted that Neposedov was allowed to contact his wife, who was with him in the car as an assistant, and a lawyer. "It only became possible after more than two days of talking on the phone," says Bornemann.

The lawyer has not yet been able to help the detainee in any way. Now Restless has been in custody in Ternopil for four days without explanation.

According to Bornemann, the operator is 53 years old, in 2022 he joined the Armed Forces as a volunteer, was injured. The broadcaster demands that the Ukrainian authorities immediately release him and explain why he was arrested.

MFA in Vienna and the Austrian Embassy in Kiev are already dealing with this issue, Bornemann added. He stressed that Ukraine wants to join the EU and therefore is "obliged" to "comply with European standards regarding personal security and media freedom."

As the Ukrainian media write, in turn, Neposedov, according to his wife, was wounded in Sierodonetsk and dismissed from the army. The cameraman was on his way to the village of Sadovoye to film the reburial of the victims of the Volyn massacre. At first, the shopping center denied at all that Restless was with them, but later it was recognized. Now he is required to pass the VVC in Ternopil region, he is ready to do this only at the place of registration.