A British freelance reporter who contributes stories for Russian state-run news network RT has said on Twitter that he has been released by Ukrainian government authorities almost 36 hours after being detained.
Reporter Graham Phillips told RT on Tuesday that Ukrainian troops had detained him in the country's Black Sea city of Mariupol, the site of repeated fighting between government forces and anti-Kiev separatists.
Following his release on Wednesday night, Phillips posted on his Twitter account that the incident had resulted in "no charges, no deportation, no one laid a hand on me in anger."
In an interview with RT about his time in custody, the journalist and blogger said that he was taken to the city of Zaporozhye and questioned by the Ukrainian security services about his video work with the Kremlin-backed channel, for which he has been criticized for reporting unverified information with shoddy production values.
My interview with @RT_com from a few mins ago, and some cameraphone footage of incident itself yesterday — https://t.co/GFrH38WGO2
— GrahamWPhillips (@GrahamWP_UK) 21 мая 2014
Phillips, who was later taken to Kiev before being released, said that he was "back in business" in terms of his work and said on his Twitter account Thursday that the Ukrainian authorities had handed back the possession that were taken from him on Tuesday, including his recording equipment.
Both Ukrainian government forces and anti-Kiev separatists have detained journalists during the political turmoil in the country's east, including Vice News video correspondent Simon Ostrovsky and two Russian journalists from online tabloid LifeNews.
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