KIEV, August 29. /TASS/. Two Spanish journalists, Antonio Pampliega and Angel Sastre, were expelled from Ukraine last week over their "anti-Ukrainian activities," Elena Gitlyanskaya, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Security Service, confirmed on Tuesday.

"That’s true. They were banned to enter Ukraine for their anti-Ukrainian publications," UNIAN quoted her as saying.

El Mundo reported earlier that the journalists had been expelled from Ukraine on August 25 after being kept in Kiev’s airport for about 20 hours. Ukraine blacklisted Pampliega and Sastre as persons posing a threat to its national security back in 2015. They were banned to enter the country for a period of up to five years.

In the meantime, according to Gitlyanskaya, the Ukrainian Security Service has had and has no blacklists.

In July, Ukraine’s Security Service expelled from the country Russian journalists Maria Knyazeva working for the Rossiya-1 and Rossiya-24 television channels. On August 15, the Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media condemned "hasty deportations of Russian journalists from Ukraine" as restricting freedom of the media. International organizations have repeatedly called on Kiev to revise its policy towards journalists.