U.K. newspaper the Guardian said its Moscow correspondent has been denied entry into Russia, in a move the paper said was a sign of pressure on the foreign media reminiscent of Cold War-era expulsions.
Russian officials weren't available to comment late Monday on the deportation of Luke Harding. U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague raised the issue with Russian officials in phone call Monday, a spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said.
"We have been in contact with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including through a call from the foreign secretary, to seek clarity on this decision," a spokesman for the foreign office said Monday night. "We are awaiting a reply."
Mr. Harding said in a telephone interview that he was refused entry to Russia when he returned to Moscow from London on Saturday. Though he had a journalist's visa valid until May 2011, Mr. Harding said, immigration officials told him without explanation that he was not being allowed into the country and would be deported. After being held for about an hour, he said, he was put on a plane back to London.
Mr. Harding, the Guardian's Moscow correspondent since 2007, had often written critical articles about the Kremlin and its policies, particularly in the volatile Caucasus region. He also authored a number of articles about allegations of high-level Kremlin corruption in U.S. diplomatic cables revealed by WikiLeaks. Mr. Harding's expulsion came as the Guardian unveiled "WikiLeaks: Inside Julian Assange's War on Secrecy," a book he co-authored with the paper's investigative editor David Leigh.
"This is clearly a very troubling development with serious implications for press freedom, and it is worrying that the Russian government should now kick out reporters of whom they disapprove," said Alan Rusbridger, editor of the Guardian, part of Guardian Media Group PLC. He called Russia's treatment of journalists a matter "of great concern."
Russian officials have often expressed unhappiness about critical coverage in the Western press, but rarely have they resorted to limiting visas for foreign journalists.
Mr. Harding said he had received a number of complaints about his coverage from the Russian Foreign Ministry, which handles visas and accreditation for foreign journalists, particularly in the last year.
In November, he said, ministry officials told him his accreditation wouldn't be renewed at the end of the year because of two alleged violations of internal-travel restrictions inside Russia. Mr. Harding said he dismissed those as "pretexts." After intervention at that time by the British government, Mr. Harding said, Russian officials agreed to extend his visa until May 2011.
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