MOSCOW, August 11. /TASS/. Russian journalists Semyon Pegov, Anton Starkov, Dmitry Lasenko and Vladislav Zizdok, who were released after detention in Belarus, have returned to Russia, Daily Storm Editor-in-Chief Alena Sivkova told TASS on Tuesday.
"They have just crossed the border and are now heading for Smolensk," she said.
On Sunday, Belarus held its sixth presidential election since declaring independence in 1991. Mass protests and clashes with the police took place in Minsk and other Belarusian cities on Sunday night into Monday morning after exit poll results were made public.
On the same day, Vasily Polonsky and Vladimir Romensky, reporters of the Russian television channel Dozhd and their cameraman Nikolai Antipov were detained in Minsk when covering the Belarusian election. According to Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, they had no accreditation. Meanwhile, Dozhd Editor-in-Chief Tikhon Dzyadko told TASS documents for accreditation had been submitted back on June 15. The journalists were deported from Belarus overnight to Monday.
It was reported on Monday that Daily Storm and Meduza journalists and defense correspondent Semyon Pegov had been detained on Sunday when the police were dispersing protests in Minsk. Apart from that, Rossiya Segodnya press photographer Ilya Pitalev was also detained. On Monday, Russian Ambassador to Belarus Dmitry Mezentsev told the Rossiya-24 television channel that Pegov, Starkov and Lasenko had been released.