A Russian border guard opens a gate in front of a truck from a convoy that delivered humanitarian aid for Ukraine on its return to Russia at border crossing point "Donetsk" in Russia's Rostov Region August 23, 2014. (Xinhua/Reuters)
MOSCOW, June 26 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday slammed the Ukrainian entry ban against two Russian journalists as a violation of freedom of speech.
"We consider these restrictive measures as another confirmation that Kiev is not going to stop an extensive repression campaign against the media, in particular Russian media, in order to suppress freedom of speech in the country," a ministry statement said.
Earlier in the day, Yevgeny Primakov, a journalist of Russia's state TV and radio company VGTRK, and Paula Slier, of the RT broadcaster, were stopped by the Ukrainian border service and officially denied entry to Ukraine with a five-year-long ban.
The two journalists planned to attend a conference on the freedom of speech organized by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Ukraine's capital Kiev.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said it hoped that the participants of the conference would condemn "this outrageous case of violation of journalists' rights and freedoms."
Moscow also expects from the OSCE and other relevant international organizations a more serious response to Kiev's policy of restricting freedom of speech, it said, referring to the criticism by OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Desir.
Desir tweeted Tuesday that he regretted the denial of entry to the Russian journalists, saying "all OSCE states should facilitate free travel for journalists across the region."