Kyiv waiting Minsk’s explanations of deportation of politician

• 3.10.2007, 12:26

Official Kyiv has not yet received the explanations of the Belarusian side what was the reason that Ukrainian politician Eduard Kovalenko, party “Spas” leader, wasn’t let in Belarus in September. Andrei Deshchitsa, Ministry of Foreign Affairs speaker declared it to “Novyi Region”

As “Novyi Region” already reported, Kovalenko was detained by the Belarusian frontier guards, when he tried to go to Saint Petersburg through Belarus. When passing the passport control on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border the Belarusian frontier guards asked him to leave the train. They said he had a DDD stamp against his surname in the data base. “They didn’t explain what it meant, but hinted that I was a persona non grata’, - “Spas” party leader says. Kovalenko was placed in the temporary custody cell, where he spent more than 3 hours. After that the secret service agents came and guarded him to the train going to Kyiv. They made no explanations, too, the Ukrainian agency “Novyi Region” informs.

After the incident, Kovalenko appealed to MFA and to the embassies of Belarus and Russia in order to find out the true reasons of his entry denial.

Speaker of foreign office of Ukraine Andrei Deshchitsa, said informed “Novyi Region” that after Kovalenko’s appeal the necessary commissions were given to the Embassy of Ukraine in Belarus.

“Our embassy appealed to Belarusian frontier service for explanations”, - Deshchitsa said.

But the Belarusian side hasn’t yet responded to the appeal of the embassy.