Earlier in the day, a photojournalist working for the Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency, Ramil Sitdikov, officially accredited for the Eurovision Song Contest, was denied entry to Ukraine on the grounds of allegedly not being able to confirm the reasons for entering the country.
"None of those Russian journalists who are accredited for the Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev and who have previously violated the state border of Ukraine illegally visiting … Crimea, will not be admitted to the territory of our country," Gerashchenko wrote on his Facebook page.
According to Gerashchenko, Sitdikov all by himself provided the border guards with the evidence about his "illegal" stay in Crimea.
In April, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) officially confirmed that Russia would not participate in Eurovision 2017, scheduled to start on May 7 and last through May 11, because it did not agree to the proposed alternatives after Ukraine's refusal to let Yulia Samoilova from Russia take part in the contest. Samoilova had been banned entry into the country for three years due to her visit to Crimea in 2015 without first obtaining a permit from Ukraine. In accordance with the country's law, Ukraine may ban entry for foreigners who had visited post-referendum Crimea without a permit from Kiev.
The referendum on Crimea rejoining Russia was held in March 2014 with the overwhelming majority of the Crimean population, 97 percent, supporting the reunification. However, Kiev and the West still consider Crimea a part of Ukraine.
