"There is no reason to worry": three Russian journalists detained in Belarus were released

Russian journalists Semyon Pegov, Anton Starkov and Dmitry Lasenko, detained the day before in Minsk, were released. This was announced by the Russian Ambassador to Belarus Dmitry Mezentsev.

“He (Pegov. - RT ) is free ... Tomorrow, I believe that the guys will be already at home. There are no reasons to worry, "Mezentsev said on the air of the Russia 24 TV channel.

Shortly before this, the Russian Foreign Ministry published a message in which it stated that work was underway on incidents with Russian journalists in Belarus.

“Unfortunately, there were some incidents with the Russian journalists covering the elections. The Russian Embassy in Minsk deals with each specific case, ”the Foreign Ministry said.

Along with this, the Foreign Ministry called on employees of the domestic media to work on the territory of Belarus, in full compliance with the legislation of this country.

“I would like to hope that the Belarusian side will contribute to the normal organization of such activities,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

Semyon Pegov was one of the Russian journalists detained on August 9 on the territory of Belarus. On Sunday, presidential elections were held in the republic.

Recall that after the closing of polling stations on the evening of August 9, riots broke out in Minsk, during which the republic's law enforcement agencies used flash-noise grenades and water cannons to disperse the protesters.

A number of Russian public figures and journalists called on the Belarusian authorities to release the detained colleagues. Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of the RT TV channel and MIA Rossiya Segodnya, spoke about the events of the past evening and night.

It should be noted that among the journalists detained in Belarus was a stringer who collaborated with the Ruptly video agency. Later, she ended up in an isolation ward without means of communication. In addition, two more Ruptly stringers were detained while filming the opening of polling stations. Neither the editorial office nor the relatives can still contact them. Along with this, Sputnik Belarus reported about the beating and arrest of the correspondent Yevgeny Oleinik.

Margarita Simonyan posted on her Telegram channel an appeal to the law enforcement agencies of Belarus and personally to President Alexander Lukashenko. She pointed out that the authorities in their country are free to restore order, while noting that it is unacceptable to take harsh actions against journalists.

“You have no right to detain - even so harshly - journalists doing their job,” wrote Simonyan.

She called on Minsk to provide information on the whereabouts of Semyon Pegov, one of the media representatives detained the day before.

“Semyon Pegov, the Ruptly stringers, all the journalists who covered your elections - honestly and impartially, by the way - should be released immediately!” Wrote the editor-in-chief of RT.

Later, RT correspondent Konstantin Pridybailo found out that Semyon Pegov is in the Center for Isolation of Offenders in Minsk at st. Akrestsina, 36a

This information was confirmed by the press secretary of the Russian diplomatic mission in Belarus Alexey Maskalev.

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“As we learned, Pegov is currently in the isolation center for offenders in Minsk. He is on the list of detainees, ”RIA Novosti quoted Maskalev as saying.

Note that Pridybailo himself was soon also detained during the coverage of events in Minsk, as he himself reported on his Telegram channel. A few hours later it became known that Pridybailo was released.

“They were preventively detained at the entrance to the park, they treated me, one might say, gently. They drove several kilometers in a paddy wagon and dropped him off further from the epicenter of the protests. The only thing was that it was terribly stuffy in the paddy wagon, ”he said.

Let us add that among the other journalists who were severely detained the day before in Minsk were employees of the Daily Storm publications Anton Starikov and Dmitry Lasenko, Meduza correspondent Maxim Solopov, as well as a number of employees of the Dozhd TV channel. The channel's editor-in-chief, Tikhon Dzyadko, later said that the journalists had returned to Moscow and had been banned from entering Belarus for a period of five years.

The editor-in-chief of the Daily Storm, Alena Sivkova, in an interview with RT, said that the connection with the journalists of her publication and Semyon Pegov was at night, but disappeared by nine in the morning on Monday.

“The guys said they were together, in the same cell. Then, according to them, he (Semyon - RT ) was allegedly taken out, promised to almost beat him up, that is, there was a rather tough situation. And that's all, since then no one has seen him. Now I can't say that the guys are together. Because mine are silent, ”Sivkova said.

On Monday evening, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry announced that a telephone conversation had taken place between the heads of the foreign affairs agencies of Russia and Belarus, Sergei Lavrov and Vladimir Makei. It follows from the message of the Belarusian Foreign Ministry that the conversation concerned “individual representatives” of the Russian media who worked in the republic without accreditation.

“The heads of the foreign ministries of the two states discussed issues related to individual representatives of the Russian media working in Belarus outside the legal field without appropriate accreditation,” the statement says.

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova called the actions of the Belarusian authorities in relation to Russian journalists disproportionate.

“Today he has been in the position of Director of the Department for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Foreign Ministry for five years. I didn't think that on this day I would be protecting Russian journalists from disproportionate actions of the security forces in fraternal Belarus, ”Zakharova wrote on her Facebook account.

The representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated that journalists are obliged to work, respecting the laws of the host country, and also having permits with them.

“But many of them in good faith requested accreditation in advance, according to all the rules. She was not given to them, but now they were hit on the head with truncheons. This is definitely not brotherly. You can't do that, ”concluded Zakharova.