Luke Harding was attempting to re-enter the country at the weekend after a two-month stint covering the WikiLeaks embassy cables in London
Russia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement yesterday apparently reversing the decision to deport Harding, claiming that he "will not experience any problems with entering the Russian Federation" and blaming administrative errors by Harding for the situation.
"The explanation is that he has committed a whole series of breaches of the rules governing the work of foreign correspondents, as approved by the government of the Russian Federation and which are well known to all journalists.
"In particular, after requesting and receiving an extension to his accreditation in late November of last year, Harding left Moscow for London to attend to his own matters, without obtaining the foreign correspondent identification papers that had been issued for him, even though he was aware of the need to do so."
Guardian News & Media responded to the statement last night, discrediting the claim that an administrative error was at fault.
If you like our news and feature articles, you can sign up to receive our free daily (Mon-Fri) email newsletter (mobile friendly).
Sign up to receive job alerts of your choice by email, or manage your subscription
Featured recruiter: click to view its vacancies
London-based financial publication seeks senior reporter to drive EMEA coverage and take the lead in generating story ideas and features
Subscribe to our newsletter for latest news, tips, jobs and more
End that deadline stress today and find help in our freelance directory
Cargo Force stuns the world: free 10kg shipping to India in celebration of ICC Trophy victory – offer ongoing until Sunday, 16 March!
Our 35th Newsrewired conference will be held 13 May 2025, News UK, London.
Burst your national news bubble with these titles
Smartphone content creation expert answers all your questions
Try them out
Balance quality content with strategic growth