Ukraine Expels Georgian Journalist

Ukrainian authorities on Friday briefly detained and then deported a Georgian journalist covering mass pro-EU demonstrations that have gripped the Ukrainian capital since November.

David Kakulia, a journalist from Georgia's Rustavi 2 television station "was briefly detained by border guards upon arrival in Kiev airport and deported," its director Nika Gvaramia told Agence France Presse.

He said that Kakulia, who earlier covered Ukrainian police violence against protesters, "was banned by security services from entering Ukraine for one year over the groundless accusation of 'suspicious activities' -- in violation of all international standards."

In another instance of targeting Georgian journalists, Ukraine's security and immigration services ordered last week the expulsion of two journalists from Georgia's Tabula TV.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych's decision to scrap key trade and political agreements with the European Union has plunged the ex-Soviet country into its most acute political crisis since the pro-democracy Orange Revolution in 2004.

Pro-EU protesters are still occupying Kiev's Independence Square, in a bid to persuade the government to sign an EU trade and partnership pact, which would mark a major break with the Kremlin.

Rustavi 2 has a reputation of being sympathetic to former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, who led Georgia's own 2003 Rose Revolution and personally visited the protests on Independence Square in Kiev.