WASHINGTON — Russian authorities briefly detained and then deported the chief of the board that oversees U.S. government broadcasting overseas, including the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, the agency said Wednesday.
The Broadcasting Board of Governors said in a statement that its chairman, Jeff Shell, was denied entry into Russia on arriving at Moscow’s main international airport late Tuesday despite having a valid U.S. passport and a Russian visa. He was detained in a locked room for several hours before being escorted onto a flight to Amsterdam.
The statement said Russian authorities did not explain the expulsion. But it said that Shell told colleagues traveling with him that airport security officials told him he was subject to a lifetime ban on entering Russia. Shell is a presidential appointee who serves part time as chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors and is also the chairman of NBCUniversal’s Filmed Entertainment Division.