Policy

Ukrainian journalist detained in Poland while filming the situation with grain at the border

Yesterday, Ukrainian Pravda journalist Mykhailo Tkach, who was covering the situation on the Polish-Belarusian border, was detained in Poland. This was reported byUkrayinska Pravda, Kommersant Ukrayinsky reports

The journalist and cameraman were filming a story about the transit of goods across the border of Poland and Belarus.

“Near the Polish border with Belarus, Polish police officers approached us and showed us a badge. We showed them our documents and journalist’s certificates. They started grabbing our cameras and searching us…”

– the newspaper quoted the journalist as saying.

According to him, the police handed them over to the special services, where they were searched by about 10 people. Memory cards from cameras, phones and documents were taken from the journalist.

“During the interrogation at the commandant’s office, I told them that we were journalists and said that we were filming how Poland trades with Russia through Belarus and how Poland trades with Belarus, how agricultural products go from Russia and Belarus to Poland. It was clear that the Polish secret service representatives were frightened. They started asking me who else knew about it, whether the Ukrainian authorities and the Ukrainian government knew about it. They asked me who our sources were, how we found out about it, how long we had been working on this topic,”

– tkach said.

The newspaper writes that Tkach and his cameraman were held for 4 hours without any explanation, were not allowed to contact anyone and were released only after the intervention of the Ukrainian embassy and consulate.

When the memory cards were returned to them, it turned out that some of the material on them had been deleted.

The Polish representatives asked the Ukrainians whether they were going to make this situation public.

On the evening of 27 February, the police in Poland’s Podlaskie Voivodeship called the detention of the Ukrainian journalist a fake.

However, another police station, Lublin, confirmed the detention. According to the police, this was how they “established the identity”, although the journalist apparently immediately showed his documents.

“Officers of the Lublin Garrison Police (KPP Łuków) took measures in connection with the need to identify persons whose presence in the border area caused concern among residents. After checking their identities, they left the territory of the police unit,”

– the UP quoted the police as saying.

Polish police did not specify the names and nationalities of the detainees.

It is not yet known what the reaction of the Polish or Ukrainian political leadership to the incident is.