Ukrainian deputy deported from Belarus

Without giving clear reasons, Belarusian border guards have not let an assistant to the mayor of Poltava, Ukraine, into Belarus.

As the deputy of Poltava town hall Yury Isaev said to “Ukrainskie novosti”, he could not make his sheduled one week business trip around cities of Belarus. “On May 24 at night I landed in the airport of Minsk, and in 40 minutes I left back for Kyiv… That has run to a pretty penny,” Yury Isaev said.

He stressed that a stamp has appeared in his passport. He is banned entry to Belarus, and the tick mark in the category “other reasons” has been made. Yury Isaev was given back his documents in the airport of Kyiv: they were given to him by the pilots.

In the next few days the deputy expects to receive answers to his deputy’s inquiries about the reasons of the incident from the Foreign Affairs Minister of Ukraine Konstantin Hryshchenko, and Ambassadors of Ukraine to Belarus and of Belarus to Ukraine.

By the way, the Chairman of the State Border Committee Ihar Rachkouski has informed that there are 400,000 names in the database of persons banned from entering Belarus, and about 200,000 of them are Russian citizens.