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Foreign Ministry official 'doesn't know' why Moscow correspondent expelled

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The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's consular department said on Tuesday he does not know why a Moscow correspondent for the British newspaper The Guardian was expelled from the country.

The head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's consular department said on Tuesday he does not know why a Moscow correspondent for the British newspaper The Guardian was expelled from the country.

"I do not know the reasons why Luke Harding was refused entry to Russia," consular department chief Andrei Karlov said at a RIA Novosti news conference.

Harding, 42, was refused reentry to Russia at Moscow's Domodedovo airport after a two-month absence from the country. No explanation was given, although Harding said he was told "For you, Russia is closed," by a border official.

His visa was annulled and he was put on a plane back to Britain.

Harding had fallen foul of the Russian authorities on a number of occasions and was briefly detained while reporting last year from the volatile North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia. He also wrote up The Guardian's reports of the WikiLeaks cables, including allegations that Russia under the rule of Vladimir Putin has become a "virtual mafia state". Harding also filed a number of articles on Putin's alleged $40 billion offshore account.

A RIA Novosti source in a Russian law enforcement agency said Harding was blacklisted as a person whose presence in the country was "undesirable."

MOSCOW, February 8 (RIA Novosti)

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