Russian court orders arrest of French TV reporter for crossing into Kursk region

A Russian court has ordered the arrest of Catherine Norris Trent, a reporter for the France24 news channel, on a charge of crossing illegally into its western Kursk region, state news agency TASS said on Tuesday.

It said she had entered the region with the Ukrainian military in order to file a report.

Russia has launched criminal cases against a number of Western journalists who have reported from Kursk, where Ukrainian troops broke across the border on Aug. 6 and have carved out a slice of Russian territory.

The proceedings have been launched in absentia, and the orders mean the reporters would be arrested if they set foot inside Russia.