The authorities of Belarus sent Iryna Romaliyskaya, Yury Baraniuk and Ivan Grebenyuk, the journalists of the TV channel "Nastoyaschee vremya" detained in Minsk, to Odessa and banned them from entering the country for ten years. Journalists themselves reported this on Facebook.
Romaliyskaya and Grebenyuk are citizens of Ukraine, Baranyuk is a citizen of Russia. According to them, Odessa was chosen as the destination because it was the closest flight to Ukraine.
"We are being sent to Odessa. I think we will be in a couple of hours. And everyone was banned from entering. As far as I understood, the occasion was yesterday's broadcast of "Nastoyachech vremy". The employees who interrogated us told me the points from which I got involved," Irina Romaliyskaya wrote.
The day before, the TV channel covered the rally of the opposition presidential candidate of Belarus, Svetlana Tykhanouskaya. Preliminarily, the reason for the journalists' detention is allegedly the lack of accreditation for work in the country.
On the night of August 8, the journalists arrived in Odessa. This was reported by Ivan Grebenyuk on Facebook.
"This is the best sunrise and the best feeling in life. You're home and safe," he captioned the photo on the coast of Odessa.
Hrebniuk also described what he and his colleague Iryna Romaliyskaya experienced.
"About 5 hours ago you were in a hotel in Minsk, then there was a loud knock on the door, then the door swung open with all its might and your room was filled with people in police uniforms and OMON inscriptions. Then a search, a minibus with tinted windows, a police station, an interrogation, hints and "reassuring" promises - "no, we won't ask you." A few hours later, the plane, Odessa, the sea," he wrote.
