Kyiv prosecutor office has launched a criminal probe into the alleged "obstruction to legal professional activities of journalists" following the media reports on the publishing of personal details of those journalists that have obtained accreditation in the self-proclaimed Donets People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR).

"Some unidentified individuals, operating at one of news websites," published the personal data of some of the journalists who had allegedly, obtained accreditation in LPR and DPR, the press service of the metropolitan prosecutors revealed on Wednesday. These actions have already had negative effects. In particular, some of the journalists have received threats related to their work.

"On May 11, 2016, the Office of the Prosecutor of the city of Kyiv entered into the Unified Register of Pretrial Investigations, a piece of information related to a criminal offence falling under the Article 171 part 1 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code (obstruction to legal professional activities of journalists)," the press service said.

The Chief Directorate of the National Police in Kyiv has been ordered to conduct the pre-trial investigation. Kyiv Prosecutor's Office is in charge of procedural control.

According to earlier reports, the website called Mirotvorec (Peacekeeper) published some files containing lists of about 4,500 journalists who had obtained accreditation in the DPR and the LPR. The lists contain the full names of the Ukrainian and foreign journalists, their mobile phone numbers, and their periods of stay in the self-proclaimed republics.