On February 26, in downtown Kiev, Ukrainian Security Service agents arrested two Russian journalists, Yelena Makarova, a correspondent from the Kremlin-controlled Channel One, and Andrey Grigorev, who works at the Russian TV station NTV. Police later expelled both reporters from Ukraine, banning them from returning for five years. Makarova and Grigorev are now back in Moscow.

A spokesperson for the Ukrainian Security Service said the deportations were connected to “the anti-Ukrainian propaganda carried out by these journalists.”

On February 26, Russia’s Federal Investigative Committee launched a criminal case into the arrests of Makarova and Grigorev, accusing Ukrainian police of false imprisonment and obstruction of the media.

On the evening of February 25, Ukrainian customs officials stopped Inna Osipova, another NTV correspondent, from entering the country, reportedly telling her that she “failed to show the purpose of her intended stay in Ukraine.”

On February 21, the Ukrainian Security Service released a list of Russian media outlets being denied accreditation with Ukrainian state institutions. The Rada has also voted in favor of legislation that would temporarily suspend the accreditation of roughly 110 Russian media outlets, including many state-controlled and pro-Kremlin publications, such as LifeNews and RT.

In late January, Ukrainian police arrested and expelled from the country a television crew from LifeNews, banning them from returning for five years.