Radion Marynichev, a Russian TV journalist, was ordered to leave Belarus within 24 hours and received a five years ban on entering the country. The official reason for deportation was lack of accreditation.
Marynichev came to Minsk in order to produce a news report on economic situation in Belarus. Within two days he managed to video empty shelves and long lines in front of stores and currency exchange offices. After an interview with Irina Khalip, a wife of imprisoned dissident Andrei Sannikov, Marynichev was arrested in Gorky Park in Minsk.
„I was surrounded by a few policemen, they ordered me to show them my backpack due to a terrorist threat“ – the journalist told Belsat. – During the search, policemen noticed my Russian journalistic ID“. Marynichev claims that he was taken to the nearest police station because of the ID. A memory card from his video camera was confiscated by the police. He was informed that he is persona non grata in Belarus, because he worked without accreditation. Marynichev accused police of confiscating majority of the material recorded during his visit.
On May 27th, president Lukashenka accused Russian media of escalating Belarusian economic problems and demanded that ministers prevented „Russian media from operating in Belarus“.
Foreign journalists also have various problems in Russia. According to grani.ru website, while police in Minsk arrested Radion Marynichev, in Moscow police detained two Georgian TV journalists. They too are accused of working without accreditation. Journalists Aleksey Marvieyev and Natiya Poldaszvili from Georgian TV channel broadcasting in Russian, were fined and now are pending trial for violating the rules of staying in Russia.
Belsat
