MOSCOW, June 17 (RAPSI, Diana Gutsul) – The Federal Security Service’s (FSB) department for Moscow and the Moscow Region has refused to open a criminal case in response to a complaint from the Russian Red Cross about US and Ukrainian reports on the situation in Donbass, Igor Trunov, the head of the Moscow branch of the Russian Red Cross, told RAPSI on Wednesday.

Trunov said the complaint was not accepted due to the lack of criminal events in these publications. “Our linguistic conclusions allegedly have not proved that these media outlets’ reports incite extremism,” he said.

Trunov filed a request that the department of the Federal Security Service (FSB) in Moscow and the Moscow Region open a case under a criminal code article on pubic calls for extremism. He claims that 12 US and Ukrainian media outlets’ reports on the situation in Donbass are based on false information and accused an official of extremism.

The Russian Red Cross has filed a lawsuit with the Savyolovsky District Court in Moscow against US and Ukrainian media outlets and demands that they are fined 170 million rubles (over $3 million) in compensation for publishing lies about the events in Donbass.

The court initially argued that this case was not in its jurisdiction, but the Moscow City Court ordered it to hear the case. The Savyolovsky court twice refused to hear the complaint on grounds of alleged omissions in the petition. The Red Cross appealed that decision, but the lawsuit is still pending in court.