ROSTOV-ON-DON, May 01. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukrainian border guards have beaten up two Russians and a Belarusian on the border with Russia in the Rostov region, spokesperson for the region’s FSB (Federal Security Service) border guard department Vasily Malayev told ITAR-TASS.

According to him, the incident took place at the Ukrainian border checkpoint Dolzhansky (called Novoshakhtinsk on the Russian side).

How the travelers were beaten

A Russian citizen was going to Luhansk to visit his girlfriend. A friend accompanied him. At the railway station, they met a citizen of Belarus who was returning home from Sochi. He planned to travel home using a short route — in transit through Ukraine. They hired a taxicab for three.

“These citizens said that after they crossed the Ukrainian border, a group of border guards suddenly appeared, struck them down to the ground in a puddle and started to beat them at gunpoint. They saw that the Belarusian citizen had climbing gear that they took to be subversive group equipment,” Malayev said.

According to him, the injured persons said that the Ukrainian border guards used force against them during interrogation.

“These people were handed deportation acts with the motivation that they failed to confirm their place of stay. Russian border guards provided them all the needed assistance and helped to get to Rostov. The travelers had to change their routes. The entry into Ukraine has been banned to all of them for three years,” the official added.