MINSK (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th August, 2020) Belarus arrested three reporters from the Current Time tv channel, a United States-funded joint project of Radio Free Europe and Voice of America, for working in the country without obtaining a relevant accreditation from the Belarusian Foreign Ministry, Olga Chemodanova, a spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry, told Sputnik on Friday.
"Three reporters of this TV channel were detained because they illegally carried out journalistic activities on the territory of Belarus. They, surely, have to face consequences in line with the administrative law. For starters, this is an administrative protocol," Chemodanova said.
According to Current Time, three correspondents � Irina Romaliyskaya, Ivan Grebenyuk and Yury Baranyuk � were detained in Minsk Hotel in the Belarusian capital. Two former are citizens of Ukraine, while Baranyuk is a Russian national. The broadcaster added that mobile phones of detained reporters were turned off.
The TV channel has been actively covering the situation in Belarus ahead of the August 9 presidential election.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that it was following the situation with the detention of its citizens in the neighboring country.
"The Ukrainian Embassy in Belarus is communicating with representatives of local law enforcement agencies ... The case is under the control of the foreign ministry and the Ukrainian Embassy in Belarus," the ministry said in a press release, adding that diplomats were awaiting official confirmation about the arrest of reporters and were seeking access to the arrested citizens.
Meanwhile, a Belarusian human rights organization, legal initiative, said in its Telegram account that the detained reporters are being expelled from the country.
"Detained reporters from Current Time �� Irina Romaliyskaya, Ivan Grebenyuk and Yury Baranyuk � are being expelled from Belarus," the organization said.
Current Time is financed by the US Congress through grants via the US Agency for Global Media. The Russian-language TV channel is based in Prague. Moscow has listed it as a foreign agent.
