Ukrainian journalists Yuriy Konkevych and Oleksandr Pilyuk, who were investigating cargo transportation on the Russian-Polish border, were detained in Poland and deported from the country.
This was reported by the news agency "Rayon.in.ua".
Police officers detained the journalists in the city of Braniewo on March 7 while recording the crossing of the border by freight trains and cars between the Kaliningrad Region of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Poland.
The reason for the detention was that the journalists spent "too long" photographing critical infrastructure, namely Russian liquefied gas rail cars.
The police confiscated two smartphones, two cameras, a personal laptop, memory cards, microphones, power banks, and selfie sticks from the press representatives.
In addition, police officers searched the car without the journalists' consent. An editorial laptop, three microphones, headphones, lighting equipment and other personal items were taken from the backpack that was in the car.
According to the editorial task, the journalists traveled to the north of Poland, to the border with Kaliningrad Region of the Russian Federation, where they had to research the issue of cargo transportation, assess the traffic flow and find out which transport is used to cross the border - Polish or Russian.
It was also planned to talk to eyewitnesses and experts to assess the scale of such trade.
"We didn't meet any checkpoints of Polish farmers there, instead we saw Russian Railways cars. The Polish police detained us and took our property, did not inform the consul, did not allow us to call to Ukraine, and the Internal Security Agency called us persons threatening the national security of Poland and deported us," said Yuriy Konkevych.
Police officers didn't allow to make calls to the Consul, the editorial staff and relatives without explanation, and on March 9, border guards brought the journalists to the "Dorohusk-Yagodyn" checkpoint.
The editors have started the process of appealing the deportation, which prohibits journalists of the publication from visiting Schengen countries for 5 years.
The publication also demands the return of property, the absence of which significantly blocks the work of the news agency. In addition, Rayon.in.ua addressed to the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine and the Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine to appeal to the Association of Polish Journalists and the International and European Federation of Journalists to protect the rights of journalists.
Earlier, we wrote about how journalist Mykhailo Tkach was detained in Poland while collecting material about the transit of products between Poland and Russia and Belarus.