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American journalist David Satter barred from Russia due to expired visa

Author of several books on Russia and USSR lived in Moscow since September 2013

MOSCOW, January 14. /ITAR-TASS/. Tagansky court of Moscow has made a decision to expel the American journalist David Satter as he has violated the term of his stay in Russia.

The court’s press secretary Ksenia Lyapina told ITAR-TASS: “David Arnold Setter is expelled from the country based on the November 29 court ruling as he had an expired visa.” She added that it was the Moscow’s Central District branch of the Federal Migration Service which filed for expulsion of the foreign citizen staying in the country illegally.

Earlier, The Guardian reported that Russian authorities have denied an entry visa to the U.S. correspondent.

Satter, who has authored three books on Russia in the past, has visited the former Soviet Union and later on the Russian Federation on a big number of occasions since 1969 and has done several stints as a correspondent, including for The Financial Times.

His last arrival in Moscow was in the capacity of an advisor to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a propaganda vehicle fully sponsored by U.S. Congress.

Satter, 66, went to Kiev last month and applied to the Russian embassy for a renewal of his visa but a diplomat at the embassy read out a statement to him, which allegedly said: “The competent organs have decided that your presence in the Russian Federation is not desirable. You are banned from entering Russia.”

“Such language is usually used in spy cases,” The Guardian observed.

Satter complained in the interview with newspaper that no official accusations had been made against him.