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Customs officials at Donetsk airport do not let Itar-Tass reporter cross Ukrainian border

The official pretext for denying him an entry of Ukraine was the insufficiency of assets on his bank card (the required minimum is 50,000 rubles)

MOSCOW, March 09 /ITAR-TASS/. Ukrainian customs officials at the airport of the eastern city of Donetsk did not let Itar-Tass news photographer Sergei Fadeichev enter the country’s territory Sunday afternoon, Fadeichev said in a phone call to the editorial office in Moscow.

The official pretext for denying him an entry of Ukraine was the insufficiency of assets on his bank card (the required minimum is 50,000 rubles).

To confirm the availability of that reserve on the bank account, he was told to submit a confirmation from the card issuer, the Russian Savings Bank (Sberbank), which could be issued to him only in Moscow.

By the time of reporting, Fadeichev’s passport, editorial ID and business trip permit were confiscated from him and handed to the captain of the Aeroflot jet, which the customs officials offered him to board for a return flight to Moscow.

The officials claimed the documents would be returned to the reporter only upon return to the Russian capital.