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News Website Editor Detained In Russia


KHABAROVSK, Russia -- The editor in chief of an independent Russian news website says he has been detained at the airport in the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk.

Oleg Potapenko of the online news portal Amurburg.ru told his colleagues by phone on November 12 that he and his partner had been detained while heading to Hong Kong.

Potapenko said police confiscated their mobile phones, laptops, and tablets, saying they might contain classified information.

Potapenko, who is openly gay, was held for four hours and interrogated by police at Khabarovsk's airport in July upon his return from a forum of nongovernmental organizations in Georgia.

At the time, Potapenko called the incident "psychological pressure.”

Amurburg.ru has reported about the presence of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine, where the Ukrainian Army has been battling pro-Russian separatists.

RFE/RL has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian government.

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