Ukrainian reporter held for reporting in Russia without work permit

Russian authorities arrested Yevgeny Agarkov, a reporter with the Ukrainian television station 1+1, on July 18, 2014, and accused him of working in Russia without a proper accreditation, according to news reports. Agarkov had traveled there to cover the controversial prosecution and trial of Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, whom Russia accused of involvement in the killing by mortar fire of reporter Igor Kornelyuk and sound engineer Anton Voloshin, both with the Russian state-owned broadcaster VGTRK.

News reports said Agarkov denied knowing that he needed a work permit in Russia. The journalist was being held in a detention facility in the southeastern city of Voronezh, news reports said.

The same day Agarkov was arrested, a Voronezh district court found him guilty of working in Russia without proper documents, fined him in the amount of 2,000 rubles (USD 57), and ordered him to be expelled from Russia, the local press said. The reports said he was not planning to appeal.