Marc Innaro, a Moscow-based correspondent working for Italy's RAI broadcaster, who has been banned from entering Ukraine to cover the upcoming presidential election despite being accredited by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, told Sputnik on Monday that he had returned to the Russian capital
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th March, 2019) Marc Innaro, a Moscow-based correspondent working for Italy's RAI broadcaster, who has been banned from entering Ukraine to cover the upcoming presidential election despite being accredited by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, told Sputnik on Monday that he had returned to the Russian capital.
Earlier in the day, Vittorio Torrembini, the vice president of the association of Italian entrepreneurs in Russia, told Sputnik that the correspondent, who had been detained for four hours, was accompanied by a Russian cameraman who was similarly denied entry into Ukraine. According to Torrembini, the journalist was supposed to have interviews with political and religious figures, as well as cover the vote.
"I have just landed at Domodedovo [International Airport in Moscow]," the correspondent said.
According to the reporter, Ukrainian customs officers said they barred him from entering the country because he had not sufficiently explained his reasons for traveling there.
"As if I was obligated as a journalist to provide justification for what I was doing. [The customs officers] were polite, but said that the decision could not be appealed," Innaro added.
Torrembini, in turn, suggested earlier in the day that the correspondent might have been barred from entering Ukraine simply because he lived in Moscow, adding that the Italian Foreign Ministry had already prepared a note of protest for Kiev.
On March 13, Russia's Izvestia newspaper reported, citing sources within the Ukrainian parliament, that the majority of Russian journalists who "propagate Moscow's stance" might not be allowed to cover the presidential election in Ukraine.
The presidential vote is slated to take place on Sunday.
