Financial Times journalist says ‘kicked out’ of India-Russia event over ‘security reasons’

The South Asia bureau chief of Financial Times has claimed that he was “kicked out” of an India-Russia event in Delhi today for “security reasons”.

It was a FICCI organised India-Russia business dialogue, attended by India’s external affairs minister S Jaishankar and Russia’s deputy prime minister and minister for industry and trade Denis Valentinovich Manturov, at the Leela Hotel in the national capital.

On Twitter, FT journalist John Reed said that he had been invited to and registered for the event, but he was “kicked out”. He later said that the event had become a closed door interaction four minutes before it began, and that the person who asked him to leave appeared to be Russian.

Meanwhile, a Reuters journalist tweeted that she had got a seat but was also asked to leave on “security reasons”. However, she wrote that all journalists, including herself, were subsequently allowed to cover the event even when it was a “mess” as there was no clarity about it being a closed door meeting. 

A Tribune journalist tweeted that all of the journalists there had gotten locked out and FICCI had informed everyone by mail that the event had been converted to a closed door interaction. 

Meanwhile, media reports said that India and Russia are discussing a free trade agreement to improve bilateral trade and cooperation. Jaishankar also said that Delhi was in “advance agreement” on a trade treaty with the Kremlin which the Russian deputy PM said would bring a guarantee of bilateral investment.