Two correspondents and an operator of the Russian TV channel Dozhd were detained on Sunday, August 9, in Minsk. This is reported by the Telegram-channel “Rain”.
“Our correspondents Vladimir Romensky and Vasily Polonsky, as well as cameraman Nikolai Antipov, were detained in Minsk. People in civilian clothes and in masks put them on the asphalt and took them away in an unknown direction, ”the statement said.
At the moment, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus has not provided any official comments.
Presidential elections are held in Belarus on August 9. The Central Election Commission registered five candidates – Andrei Dmitriev, Anna Kanopatskaya, Alexander Lukashenko, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, Sergei Cherechnya. Two applicants, Viktor Babariko and Valery Tsepkalo, were denied registration.
At the end of July, Russian journalists were also detained in Minsk, but after checking their documents and press cards, they were released from the Zavodskoy District Department of Internal Affairs of the capital of Belarus.
On July 23, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko demanded that officials react decisively to destructive media and did not rule out the possibility of expelling foreign journalists from the country.