"HAY QUE EXPULSAR A LOS PERROS ALFA "PERIODISTAS". PUTIN CONFIRMA QUE RUSIA , ES UN ESTADO MAFIOSO".

"Expelling a journalist alpha dog

Putin confirms Russia is a mafia state".

"The Russian authorities did not allow entering the country after a two-month absence a correspondent of British newspaper The Guardian in Moscow, Luke Harding, annulling his visa and deporting back to Britain, the newspaper's website reports". "Harding was arrested during border control and detained for 45 minutes. After that they put him on a return flight to London, returning the passport with Russian visa annulled only in the plane". "No specific reason for the decision was given... I'm sad to leave under these circumstances. My visa valid until end of May", a 42-year-old Harding said at his microblog on Twitter".

"Expulsion of British journalist "Luke Harding, a permanent correspondent of the Guardian, from Moscow provoked widespread outrage in Britain".

"The Guardian points out that Russians expelled Harding for newspaper's covering the WikiLeaks diplomatic cables that Russia is a virtual mafia state. In another American cable it was stated that Putin is the chief Russian dog "or alpha-dog".

"It is the first expulsion of a British staff journalist from the country since the so-called "end of the cold war".

"British newspaper said that a gang of Russian KGB/FSB arranged terror in Moscow against Western correspondents. Threatened with expulsion they are prohibited from writing about the money stolen by Putin during his stay in power, and about the total corruption among his top cronies-sidekicks".

"After his expulsion, Harding said in London: "I didn't go out to Russia with any particular agenda and I'm sad to leave under these circumstances. But I do not think journalists can accept self-censorship".

"Meanwhile, the director of the British human rights anti-censorship organization Index on Censorship John Kampfner said:

"The Russian government's treatment of Luke Harding is petty and vindictive, and evidence - if more was needed - of the poor state of free expression in that country", The Guardian wrote".

"The head of the Foreign Office, William Hague, has already contacted with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, and he promised to look into the matter. The British Foreign Office confirmed the newspaper it had been in contact with its Russian counterparts, "including through a call from the foreign secretary". British officials said they were awaiting a reply".

"Alan Rusbridger, the Guardian editor-in-chief, said: "This is clearly a very troubling development with serious implications for press freedom, and it is worrying that the Russian government should now kick out reporters of whom they disapprove".

"The last prominent British journalist to be expelled from Russia was Sunday Times correspondent Angus Roxburgh, who was kicked out of Russia in 1989 in a "tit for tat" expulsion after Margaret Thatcher asked 11 Russian spies to leave London. He returned a few months later after the fall of communism, working for the BBC".

"Harding's expulsion was preceded by several incidents of harassment in Russia, against the background of the official protest against its activities. The journalist was briefly detained in April 2010 in Ingushetia. In May, he interviewed in Dagestan's father Mariam Sharipova, attacking the Moscow subway in March 2010".

"Harding's expulsion follows several incidents of harassment amid official disapproval of his coverage. He was briefly detained in April 2010 in Ingushetia after a visit to the troubled the Caucasus region. In May he interviewed the Dagestani father of Mariam Sharipova, a martyr bomber who bombed Moscow Metro in March 2010".

"In December the Guardian published an article by Harding which reported that Putin was likely to have known about the planned assassination of Alexander Litvinenko in the opinion of Washington's top diplomat in Europe because of the Russian prime minister's "attention to detail". That report was part of the newspaper's WikiLeaks coverage".