Journalist sought by Russia ordered to pay defamation damage

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian court has ordered an investigative journalist to pay 156,000 rubles ($2155) in compensation to a Dutch blogger who he alleged has ties to the Russia’s military intelligence agency. The court also ordered Roman Dobrokhotov to refute the tweet in which he made the claim. The decision Wednesday comes as authorities are seeking to detain Dobrokhotov on charges of illegally crossing the border into Ukraine. Dobrokhotov is editor-in-chief of The Insider, a Latvia-based news site that Russia has added to its foreign agent registry under a crackdown on independent media. The Dutch blogger filed a defamation suit after Dobrokhotov claimed he was cooperating with Russian intelligence to spread alternative narratives about the 2014 shootdown of a civilian jetliner.