MOSCOW, May 21. /ITAR-TASS/. Journalists of two Russian federal television companies - All-Russia State Television and Radio-Broadcasting Company (VGTRK) and REN TV who planned to cover presidential elections in Ukraine on May 25 were banned from entering the country for the past day.

The TV channel said that the Ukrainian Security Service had explained this step by the assumption that journalists “failed to explain the goal of their stay in the country.”

“Journalists have already returned to Moscow,” a representative of the TV channel noted.

Media holding VGTRK also stated earlier in the day that its two TV crews were not permitted to enter Ukraine to cover presidential elections.

These journalists have already returned to Russia and are staying in Moscow, the media holding said.

Journalists “had journalist identity certificates and official accreditation cards from Ukrainian Central Elections Commission, these documents were seized at the Borispol airport, TV crews received explanations that they [border control officers] do not understand the goals of their stay in Ukraine,” TV channel Rossiya-24 said earlier in the day.

Last week Russian LifeNews journalists Oleg Sidyakin and Marat Saichenko were detained by the Kiev national guard near the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk in Donetsk Region. Last time they got on the line in the afternoon on Sunday, May 18. Deputy secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Viktoria Syumar accused detained Russian journalists of abetment to terrorism.