Russia bans entry to pro-Ukraine Green MEP

Green MEP Rebecca Harms was barred from entering Russia on Thursday after she was declared “persona non grata”.

Taking to Facebook, Harms – who is also the co-chairperson of the Greens in the EP – said she was told to take next airplane back and any entry into Russia would be considered a criminal act.

Harms was traveling to Moscow to attend a court hearing in the case of Nadezhda Savchenko — a Ukrainian army pilot in Russian custody for her supposed involvement in the death of two Russian journalists during the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine, a charge she has denied.

In a statement, Alternattiva Demokratika expressed solidarity with the politician.

"Rebecca Harms went to Moscow  to meet with civil society organisations working on human rights issues and to attend the trial of the Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko, who is accused of espionage, and of the death of two Russian journalists in Ukraine. She was held at the airport for four hours, declared ‘persona non grata’ and then expelled back to Brussels,” AD chairperson Arnold Cassola said.

“AD expresses its solidarity with Rebecca Harms and notes that the drawing up of a blacklist of people by the Putin administration, without rendering it public, says a lot about the Russian authorities' concept of transparency.”