ULAN-UDE, May 13. /TASS/. Border guards in Russia’s Siberian Republic of Buryatia have detained four US citizens for violating the frontier regime. The detainees were fined, the regional border department of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) told TASS on Wednesday.
"This happened on May 3 in the settlement Mondy located in the border zone. We detained four US citizens. They were staying in the area without the passes to the border zone," a FSB spokesman said.
He noted that administrative action against the perpetrators had been brought under Article 18.2 of Russia’s Administrative Code - "Violation of the frontier regime in the border area." "They paid the penalty of 500 rubles each and were expelled from the border area," he added.
According to previous media reports, the perpetrators said they were scientists who arrived in Mondy to study the habitat of the snow leopard population.