Russia issues arrest warrant for German journalist

Russia issued an arrest warrant on Thursday for Michael Martens, a German journalist whose question to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky this month caused controversy in Russia, Serbia and Germany.

Martens, a reporter for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, appears on the Russian Interior Ministry's wanted list as “wanted under an article of the Criminal Code”. The list does not specify the article. A person questioned by the Russian news agency TASS said Martens is accused of “incitement to hatred”.

At an August 8 press conference in Belgrade with Zelensky and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Martens asked what Europeans could “specifically do” to help Ukraine “kill more Russians,” before adding: “Russian soldiers, of course.” Neither Zelensky nor Vucic answered.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung defended Martens, saying the question referred to current debates on ways to put pressure on Russia. The newspaper said it regretted that the question had been phrased ambiguously and said it was not its editorial position that as many Russian soldiers as possible should be killed.

Martens has defended his position on X, saying that wanting as many Russian soldiers as possible to be killed is “a noble objective.”