Statement of the Press Service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

 on detention of the citizen of Ukraine, people’s deputy of Ukraine Mr. V.V.Kaskiv

at the Sheremetyevo-2 Airport of the City of Moscow on May 15, 2008

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine learnt the information on detention of the citizen of Ukraine, people’s deputy of Ukraine Mr. V.V.Kaskiv at the Sheremetyevo-2 Airport of the City of Moscow on May 15, 2008, with astonishment.

And the motivation of detention of Mr. V.Kaskiv, denial of entry to the territory of the Russian Federation for the purpose of ensuring security of Russia, is even more incomprehensible.

As is known, Mr. V.Kaskiv’s public and political activity is not marked with anti-Russian statements or actions which could be a reason for denial of his entry to the territory of the Russian Federation. And what is more, the purpose of his visit to Moscow was participation in the Take the Point programme on the NTV channel but not proclamation of anti-Russian statements at meetings.

Considering the detention of the people’s deputy Mr. V.V.Kaskiv at the Sheremetyevo-2 Airport as a possible response to the Ukrainian party concerning the justified resolution about Mr. Y.Luzhkov, we would like to underline that any response should correspond to the question. However, it should be established with regret that even the absence of a question may precondition taking thoughtless and unjustified decisions which resemble the antiquated rules of relations, eye for eye.

This is a short-sighted policy which may not be acceptable.