You're reading: Ukrainian author Serhiy Zhadan ordered to leave Belarus

Ukrainian poet and novelist Serhiy Zhadan was detained on Feb. 11 by Belarusian police and ordered to leave the country within three days in Minsk.

The writer blamed the action on Russia, which in 2016 banned him “for involvement in terrorist activities.“Because Belarus and Kazakhstan follow common visa rules, the Russian ban automatically applies to Belarus and Kazakhstan,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

Zhadan is a well-known Ukrainian author, whose work has been widely translated into English, German, Polish, Russian, French, and other languages. In his books, he often writes about inhabitants of eastern Ukraine, the territory where he came from. His native Luhansk is currently occupied by pro-Kremlin separatists.

He was also an active supporter of the EuroMaidan Revolution that drove President Viktor Yanukovych from power. He was injured during a rally in the eastern city of Kharkiv in 2014.

In Minsk, Zhadan visited a poetry festival, where he performed a day before detention on Feb. 10.

Police officers detained Zhadan in his hotel room at night and took him to the police station, where Belarusian KGB agents checked his identity. He spent a night in jail.

In the morning, Zhadan’s passport was stamped with an undated ban to enter Belarus. He plans to leave the country on Feb. 11, he said to Belarusian Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

“The situation is slightly absurd. I’ve got a ban entry to Russia, but I don’t have plans to visit it until the end of the Ukrainian-Russian war. But the fact that it automatically applies to Belarus… is an unpleasant surprise,” he said.

To reenter the territory of Belarus, he needs to apply to a Russian diplomatic mission to be removed from the banned list, he said. Zhadan has no intention to do so.

The Embassy of Ukraine in Belarus has sent a note to the Foreign Ministry of Belarus in order to get an official explanation about the reasons for detention.