Ukraine's State Border Service Prevents Russian TV Journalist From Entering Ukraine

Ukraine's State Border Service Prevents Russian TV Journalist From Entering Ukraine

The Ukrainian State Border Guard Service said in a statement on Saturday it had prevented a Russian TV journalist from entering Ukraine and had imposed a three-year entry ban on her

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th December, 2019) The Ukrainian State Border Guard Service said in a statement on Saturday it had prevented a Russian tv journalist from entering Ukraine and had imposed a three-year entry ban on her.

"The woman arrived in Ukraine on a flight from Istanbul. As it turned out, she works as a journalist for one of Russian TV channels and covers social topics. During the border control, the citizen also noted that she had never visited the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. However, the Ukrainian border guards checked her words more carefully and discovered the deceit. In particular, the fact of illegal entry/exit into the Autonomous Republic of Crimea was established, which was then confirmed by the traveler," the statement says.

Russia's NTV broadcaster confirmed that its journalist Alexandra Tonkikh had been denied entry to Ukraine a day after the channel's another correspondent, Sergey Savin, was denied entry as well.

Crimea rejoined Russia after nearly 96 percent of voters supported the move in a March 2014 referendum. The majority of Western countries, as well as Ukraine, have not recognized the results. Moscow has repeatedly stated that Crimea's residents decided to rejoin Russia through a democratic procedure and that the referendum was conducted in compliance with international law.

Ukrainian authorities used to track journalists and public figures who have covered the conflict in Donbas in the country's east or who have visited Crimea after the referendum. Some of these people face threats and travel bans as a result.