The detained journalists of the Russian TV channel “Dozhd” are in one of the police department of Minsk, with their participation the necessary procedural actions are being carried out. This was announced to RIA Novosti by the press secretary of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry Anatoly Glaz on Sunday, August 9.
“Then decisions will be made on the extent of responsibility in accordance with the law. Considering that they are foreigners, they will most likely be asked to leave the territory of Belarus, ”he said.
Glaz assured that the Belarusian side maintains a constructive working contact on this topic with Russian colleagues who are actively interested in the situation with their citizens.
The spokesman noted that “around this issue there is a lot of speculation and attempts to stir up a scandal from scratch.” However, in fact, the detainees, according to him, worked in Belarus “without appropriate accreditation, that is, they violated the law.”
The interlocutor of the agency added that “there is no bias or differentiation according to the country of origin of the media or according to other criteria, and there cannot be,” noting that the attitude towards everyone is “calm and equal.”
At the moment, Belarus has over 300 accredited foreign journalists who can do their job “without any obstacles”. “Against this background, someone for some reason dares to think that it is possible to defiantly ignore the Belarusian legislation and act as one wants. In this regard, I would like to emphasize that Belarus is not a gateway, but a state where laws work, ”he concluded.
Earlier on Sunday, Dozhd correspondents Vladimir Romensky and Vasily Polonsky, as well as cameraman Nikolai Antipov, were detained in Minsk.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the Russian embassy in Belarus was involved in resolving the situation with the detention of Russian media workers. She also said that they were detained for lack of accreditation.
The Union of Journalists of Russia (UJR) demanded that Minsk explain the reasons for the detention of the Russians and clarify their whereabouts.
Presidential elections are held in Belarus on August 9.
Earlier in Minsk, Russian journalists were already detained, but after checking their documents and press cards they were released.
On July 23, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko demanded from officials a decisive response to the destructive media and did not rule out the possibility of expelling foreign journalists from the country.
