Russia Summons US Envoy Over Presence Of American Mercenaries, CNN Crew In Kursk Region

Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned a senior US Embassy official in Moscow in order to protest several issues related to US interference in the Kursk region, which has been scene of heavy fighting since Ukraine's cross-border incursion kicked off on Aug.6.

Russia condemned "provocative actions" of both American journalists and US mercenaries spotted on Russian territory in the context of the Kursk invasion.

The foreign ministry in the meeting with US Embassy Chief of Mission Stephanie Holmes issued "strong protest" in "connection to the provocative actions of American reporters who illegally entered the Kursk region to produce propaganda for covering up the crimes of the Kyiv regime."

The statement further said that national law enforcement authorities plan to "carry out the necessary investigative measures" examining the American journalists' work.

Last week a CNN crew filed a report from the heart of the Russian town Sudzha just after the Ukrainian army took it over. It was clear that the CNN journalists were there under the protection of the Ukrainian military, as their words describing a segment indicated:

Chief International Security Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh gained some of the first access to a Ukrainian-held Russian town Friday, to witness their control over the town of Sudzha and the intensity of the fight. CNN was accompanied by the Ukrainian military who reviewed the video without sound prior to release for operational security reasons, yet had no editorial control.

Watch: Some of CNN's footage inside the southern Russian town...

Moscow views his as unauthorized American journalists illegally entering Russia's sovereign territory without permission, ultimately to assist with Ukrainian propaganda under Kiev's military protection.

But among the more interesting charges aimed at Holmes from the Russian Foreign Ministry centers on the alleged presence of US military contractors assisting the Kursk invasion. 

The ministry pointed to "evidence that has emerged of the participation of American private military companies on the side of the Ukrainian armed forces during" the offensive into Russia.

While not naming specific companies or firms, Russian state sources have flagged a posting by the American military lifestyle brand Forward Observations Group.

The organization recently posted photos of alleged US mercenaries on Instagram, apparently on the Kursk battlefield, with a caption that reads: "the boys in Kursk."