Two freelance reporters who collaborated with the video agency Ruptly, which is part of the international television network RT, were detained in Minsk on Sunday. This was reported on the RT Telegram channel on August 9.
“Two stringers who collaborated with our video agency Ruptly were detained in Minsk while filming voting at polling stations during the presidential elections. Ten hours after the arrest, they still do not get in touch, ”the message says.
According to Ruptly, they are in one of the police department of the Belarusian capital.
“What they are accused of, we do not know,” RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan wrote on her Telegram channel, adding that stringers have not been in touch for ten hours.
Earlier on Sunday, correspondents of the Dozhd TV channel Vladimir Romensky and Vasily Polonsky, as well as cameraman Nikolai Antipov, were detained in Minsk.
According to the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, the Russians were detained due to their lack of accreditation. The diplomat added that the Russian embassy in Belarus was involved in resolving the situation. Later, the press secretary of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, Anatoly Glaz, confirmed to the media that the Russians were detained due to the lack of accreditation to work in his country.
Glaz added that the detained journalists are in one of the Minsk police department, with their participation the necessary procedural actions are being carried out. He also admitted that, most likely, they would be asked to leave the country.
The Union of Journalists of Russia (UJR) previously asked Minsk to explain why the Russians were detained and to name their whereabouts.