A BBC journalist who asked Lukashenko about his legitimacy left Russia. Foreign Ministry refused to extend her visa

BBC Moscow correspondent Sarah Rainsford left Russia after the Foreign Ministry refused to renew her visa. About this she reported в Twitter.

“I have to leave Russia,” Rainsford wrote. Information about her departure confirmed colleague Steve Rosenberg. He also published a video message from the journalist. “I am leaving the country where I first came, when the USSR collapsed, when freedom of speech was a value. Russia seems to be moving in the opposite direction today, ”she said.

Formerly the Russian Foreign Ministry refused extend Rainsford work visa in the country. The BBC journalist had to leave Russia before August 31. Officially refused by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs tied up with the actions of Great Britain, which allegedly “discriminates” the Russian media and does not issue visas to journalists.

In the BBC, such a decision of the authorities named “A direct attack on media freedom.” British Embassy also demanded do not expel Rainsford from Moscow. The journalist herself in circulation before leaving statedthat the FSB called her a “threat to national security” and banned her from entering Russia indefinitely.

Sarah Rainsford started working in Russia in the early 2000s. She was one of the first foreign correspondents to come to Beslan to cover the September 2004 hostage-taking at School No. 1. In August, Rainsford took part in the “Big Conversation with the President” in Minsk, where she asked Lukashenko about the repression of the opposition, sanctions against Belarus, and whether the president has lost legitimacy over the protests. “Yes, you choke on these sanctions. We have not known this Great Britain for a thousand years and do not want to know. You are American henchmen. ” replied he.