Poland deported Ukrainian journalists who investigated cargo transportation with Russia

Poland deported two Ukrainian journalists who investigated cargo transportation on the Russian-Polish border.

In Poland, two journalists of the Information Agency “Raion.in.ua”, were detained, who were investigating cargo transportation on the Russian-Polish border.

On March 7, editor Yurii Konkevych and videographer Oleksandr Pilyuk were detained while recording the crossing of the border by trucks between the Kaliningrad region of the Russian Federation and Poland.

On March 9, border guards brought journalists to the Dorogusk-Jagodzin checkpoint.

As part of the editorial task, the journalists had to monitor the cargo flow at the border and find out which transport is used to cross the border – Polish or Russian.

Police officers took two smartphones, two cameras, a personal MacBook, memory cards, microphones, power banks and even selfie sticks from the journalists.

The police cited the fact that the journalists spent too long photographing critical infrastructure, namely Russian liquefied gas wagons, as the reason for the detention.

In addition, the police 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.

The police officers refused the call to the consul, editorial office and relatives without explaining the reasons.

“The editorial team has now started the process of challenging the deportation on its own, which prohibits our journalists from visiting the countries of the Schengen zone for 5 years. But we appeal to international journalistic organizations for support, because this reaction of Polish law enforcement officers threatens freedom of speech not only for Ukrainian journalists. We also demand the return of property that is valuable and has material value. The lack of equipment blocks the activities of the Information Agency “Raion.in.yua” to a large extent,” Director Ihor Denysevych said.

We will remind, despite the embargo on some types of agricultural products from Ukraine, Poland continues to import the same items from Russia and Belarus. Ukrainian journalists learned about it.

Probably, following this and after that, the head of the Polish government, Donald Tusk, said that Poland will study the experience of Latvia regarding the introduction of an embargo on the import of agricultural products from the Russian Federation and, perhaps, will soon take similar steps.

Agrarians from Lithuania sided with Ukraine the day before. According to farmers, a much bigger problem for the agricultural market is Russian grain entering the country.