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Dozhd journalists released from police station in Minsk return to Russia

The journalists were working without accreditation, Belarusian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Anatoly Glaz said

MOSCOW, August 10. /TASS/. Journalists of the Russian television channel Dozhd, who were detained in Minsk on Sunday, have returned to Russia, the website of the television channel reported on Monday.

"Our journalists Vasily Polonsky, Vladimir Romensky and Nikolai Antipov, detained in Minsk, are already in Russia," it said.

On Sunday, Dozhd correspondents Vladimir Romensky and Vasily Polonsky, and cameraman Nikola Antipov were detained in Minsk by people in civilian clothes.

According to Maria Kolesnikova, a representative of the headquarters of unregistered candidate Viktor Babariko, and an 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, for his part, that the journalists were working without accreditation.

On Sunday, a presidential election was held in Belarus. Exit polls give incumbent President Alexander Lukashenko over 70% of the vote. His main rival, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya is winning between 6.8% and 10.1%. The voter turnout was 84.05% as of 20:00 on Sunday, when most polling stations closed. Voting was extended at some polling stations because of long queues.

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