Ukrainian political analyst coming to Moscow for lecture to opposition to be expelled
MOSCOW. June 3 (Interfax) - A prominent Ukrainian political analyst, Oleksandr Solontai, was detained upon his arrival at Moscow's Domodedovo airport on Sunday, secretary of the federal political council of Solidarity opposition movement Mikhail Shneider has told Interfax.
"Oleksandr arrived in Moscow to deliver a lecture to activists of the Moscow chapter of Solidarity on the political situation in Ukraine. He is the director of the Practical Politics program of the Institute of Political Education. Border guards stopped him without stating any reasons. He is in an isolation room at Domodedovo now," Shneider said.
He said that Russian veteran human rights activist Lev Ponomaryov already asked the prosecutor's office to look into the detention.
"In our opinion, the detention is absolutely unmotivated and unlawful," Schneider said.
Later Shneider told Interfax that the Russian authorities decided to expel Solontai from Russia.
"I just talked to Oleksandr. He told me that migration service officers who talked to him told him that he was unwanted but did not say why," he said.
Shneider added that the Russian authorities did not intend to provide Solontai with a return ticket.
"As a result he will fly back with the ticket that I bought for his return to Kyiv for a plane at 10 p.m. His documents will be given to the pilots and returned to him only in the Ukrainian capital," Shneider said.
At the Russian Border Service Interfax-AVN was told that "such decisions are made based on relevant instructions from executive bodies such as the Foreign Ministry, the Interior Ministry, the Federal Service for Corrective Institutions and others, if only it is not a question of violating migration regulations."
"A believe that this is what happened this time too," a Border Service representative said.
