The editor-in-chief of an independent Russian news website says he will seek political asylum in the United States.
Oleg Potapenko told RFE/RL on November 26 that he has arrived in the United States despite efforts by Russian authorities to prevent him from leaving the country.
Potapenko is editor of Amurburg.ru, a news site in the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk that has reported about the presence of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine.
On November 12, the openly gay Potapenko and his partner were prevented from boarding a flight from Khabarovsk to Hong Kong after border guards said a page was missing from Potapenko's passport.
Potapenko says the page was cut out by a police officer who requested his passport for a check earlier that day.
He told RFE/RL that he had managed to leave Russia from another city, Vladivostok, on November 16.
