The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) allowed entry to Ukraine for the Spanish journalists who worked in the occupied territories of Donbas. The spokesperson of the SBU Olena Gytlianska reported this at Facebook.
‘We allowed entry for Ukraine to Spanish journalists Antonio Pampliega and Manuel Angel Sastre, taking into account the numerous appeals of the representatives of the journalism. However, we claim that if there are the legal grounds or the threats for the national security then the SBU will continue to assume the restrictive measures, including the journalists. It is necessary to understand that the information war is held against Ukraine during the last four years and the large financial and people resources are attracted for this’, she said.
The Spanish journalists Antonio Pampliega and Manuel Angel Sastre were deported from Ukraine to the Netherlands. They were deported on August 25 after the 20 hours of holding at the airport. They are banned from the entry to Ukraine until 2020.
Pampliega and Sastre were put in the list of the citizens who constitute a threat to the national security of Ukraine in 2015. They were condemned in the dissemination of the improper information about the actions of the detachments of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, particularly the bombing of Pervomaisk in 2014 and flooding of the mines of the Donetsk Black Coal Basin.
The Ukrainian special services decided that they threaten the national security and banned them from entry. The journalists very often commented on this situation noting that they do not know the reason for such decision. The journalist organizations of Spain accused Ukraine of censorship.
