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British blogger detained at Baikonur says he was fined and released

Rich called on the media not to exaggerate the scale of the incident, and explained that a violation of the special regime of visiting in the town of Baikonur is an administrative, not criminal offence, "just like smoking in the wrong place or jaywalking"

LONDON, May 8. /TASS/. British video blogger Benjamin rich, who was apprehended at the Baikonur Cosmodrome Saturday, was released by the police after paying his fine, Rich said on his page in Instagram (outlawed in Russia, as it is owned by Meta, deemed extremist in Russia).

"I’ve woken up to a load of messages asking me if I’m ok. Apparently, people think I’m in a gulag because of some Twitter post. Basically I was questioned by Russian police for a few hours for going to see the Buran rocket without the special permission and given a Ј60 administrative fine just like hundreds of foreign adventurisers before me. The police also were nice enough to show me the closed town of Baikonur. Has an awesome mosaic of a cosmonaut," Rich said in an Instagram story.

On Saturday, Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin said in his Telegram channel that British citizen Benjamin Rich and Belarusian citizen Alina Zelupa were detained at the Baikonur Cosmodrome near launch pad 112 (Buran complex). He added that the police is investigating the circumstances.

Rich called on the media not to exaggerate the scale of the incident, and explained that a violation of the special regime of visiting in the town of Baikonur is an administrative, not criminal offence, "just like smoking in the wrong place or jaywalking."

"All the cops were friendly and gave us a lift to the train station afterwards. Was a great day. Anyway I got to see the Burans and they are spectacular," the blogger said.

Rich is the author of the Bald and bankrupt YouTube channel, active since 2018 and currently enjoying over 3.5 million subscribers. The British citizen, who often speaks Russian in his videos, makes videos about his travels to various countries, paying special attention to the post-Soviet territory. He claims that he show the life of the people in places that tourists don’t visit without frills. His last two videos were filmed in Syria and in Kiev, which Rich left after the beginning of the special military operation.

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