Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Borisenko summoned Russia’s ambassador to Israel, Oded Joseph, for a meeting following a strike in Lebanon that injured Russian state media RT correspondent Steve Sweeney and his crew. The strike occurred in the Qasmiya crossing on the Litani River in southern Lebanon, where the IDF is operating.

Joseph stressed at the meeting that Israel does not target civilians and that evacuation warnings were issued prior to the strike. He insisted that the IDF focuses purely on eliminating terrorist threats and not on targeting journalists.

“Any attempt to portray this as an intentional strike that was targeting journalists is absurd and far removed from reality,” he said. He also criticized Russia’s one-sided portrayal of the conflict and its failure to condemn Iran and Hezbollah for firing indiscriminately on civilian population centers.

Earlier on Thursday before the strike occurred, IDF Spokesperson Col. Avichay Adraee issued an evacuation notice, urging residents to move north of the Zahrani River.

The Kremlin’s Foreign Ministry filed a formal complaint Friday and demanded an investigation into the strike.

“A strike on the location where RT journalists were reporting in Lebanon cannot be considered accidental; Russia expects a response from international organizations,” said a Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson. “We call on UNESCO Director-General HE El-Anani, in accordance with the relevant decisions of the General Conference and the Executive Council on the Safety of Journalists, to condemn this crime.”

The Russian embassy in Lebanon piled on.

“It is difficult to believe that the incident was an accident,” the embassy said in a statement. “Attacks on media workers on editorial assignments are unacceptable. Journalists are protected by international law and should not be targeted in armed conflicts. This incident undoubtedly deserves categorical condemnation and an appropriate investigation.”

Ali Rida, the photographer, and Sweeney were both injured in the strike. Sweeney accused Israel on social media of deliberately targeting him and said that Israel was engaged in ethnic cleansing. He denied that evacuation notices were issued.

“Today Israel tried to kill me in a targeted airstrike in southern Lebanon as I was reporting on the targeting of bridges and the forced displacement of 1 million people, an ethnic cleansing operation on a larger scale than the Nakba,” he posted.

“I have absolutely no doubt that this was deliberate,” he continued. “Despite claims, there were no warnings ahead of the strike and no notifications sent to the Lebanese Army who allowed us to film. As we have seen in Gaza they want to silence journalists who document and report their war crimes.”

Sweeney blasted the West for supporting Israel.

“It is the western powers who provide political and military support for Israel, arming it to the teeth to carry out genocide in Gaza and ethnic cleansing here in Lebanon,” he seethed, repeating the genocide libel against Israel. “They are not simply complicit, but active participants and should be held accountable for their actions.”

“But if Israel thinks today’s strike will silence us and keep us out of the field they are very, very mistaken,” he concluded.