MOSCOW, August 10. /TASS/. Russia’s Union of Journalists has expressed strong protest against the detention of Russian journalists in Belarus, the Union’s head, Vladimir Solovyov, told TASS on Monday.

"We express resolute protest and demand immediate release of Russian journalists," he said.

Several Russian journalists who covered Sunday’s presidential election in Belarus were detained on August 9 and 10. According to Solovyov, they are Semyon Pegov, Maxim Solopov, Yevgeny Oleinik, Anton Starkov and Dmitry Lasenko. "We have information that Pegov and Solopov were beaten during the detention. They are out of touch now," he said.

According to earlier reports, three journalists of Russia’s television channel Dozhd were detained in Minsk on Sunday. Dozhd Editor-in-Chief Tikhon Dzyadko wrote on his Telegram channel that the three would be "handed over to the Russian embassy to be deported." On Sunday night into Monday morning, the three journalists, Vasily Polonsky, Vladimir Romensky and Nikolai Antipov returned to Russia. According to Maria Kolesnikova, a representative of the headquarters of unregistered candidate Viktor Babariko and the ally of candidate Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, the journalists were detained after they had spoken with her in the street. Belarusian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Anatoly Glaz told TASS that the Dozhd journalists had been working without accreditation.