MOSCOW – Border guards at Kyiv’s Boryspil International Airport are denying Russians, not only men but also women, entry into Ukraine, often using proforma excuses, a source familiar with the situation told Interfax.
“Border guards require that women produce notarized letters from banks as a proof that they have enough money to cover their living during their stay in the country and in the absence of such documents, they deny them entry,” the source said.
Many arriving Russian citizens are not allowed to approach passport control booths. They get stripped of their passports and sent to an interview with border guard officers instead. Interviews take place in a small room near the front passport booth, according to the source.
“They invite people for an interview one by one. Following a conversation, they deny Russians entry as a rule, citing the martial law and an entry ban for male Russian nationals aged from 16 to 60. Being denied entry, Russians are sent to the country they arrived from on board the same airplane at the expense of the airline. People are not given back their passports until they leave the country,” the source said.
Head of the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service Petro Tsyhykal said earlier that his agency had tightened border control and restricted arrivals by foreign citizens, primarily male Russian citizens aged from 16 to 60.
Andriy Demchenko, spokesman for Ukraine’s State Border Service, said on Friday that 75 Russian nationals were denied entry in the past 24 hours.
“Almost thirty Russians were denied entry by Ukraine at Boryspil Airport alone in the past 24 hours,” a source familiar with the situation told Interfax.
“Russians mostly come to Kyiv on transit via Minsk, flying with the Belarusian carrier Belavia. In addition, many passengers with Russian passports arrive on flights from Georgia. However, the number of denials of entry faced by Russians increased dramatically in the past 24 hours,” the source said.
Passengers with Belarusian and Georgian passports cross the Ukrainian border as normal. Most of them have no difficulties whatsoever, the source said.
