Moscow police have begun accepting applications from media outlets for "safety cards" intended to afford reporters additional security when covering the city's sometimes rowdy political rallies.
The program was developed jointly with the state-run RIA-Novosti, city police chief Vladimir Kolokoltsev and the Moscow Journalists Union chairman Pavel Gusev said in a statement announcing the program.
The cards were conceived after regular complaints from reporters that they are prevented from doing their work by law enforcement officials, who in turn say they cannot tell the journalists from the protesters, RIA-Novosti reported.
The cards are not, however, obligatory. Russian journalists may cover protests with an editorial accreditation, while foreign reporters must have accreditation from the Foreign Ministry and personal identification, the document said.
"Journalists, members of society and the police are all working together. We're sitting in one ship and heading in the same direction. The Moscow police will do everything to make journalists' work safe," Kolokoltsev said in the memorandum.