Ukraine arrests Belarus nat'l rowing team training in Pridnestrovie
http://www.tiraspoltimes.com/node/679Members of the national rowing team from Belarus have been arrested by Ukraine border guards while training. They are charged with having crossed into Ukraine's side of the Kuchurgan lake shared by Ukraine and Pridnestrovie. They are in Pridnestrovie to practice for the upcoming world championship.
By Times staff, 21/Mar/2007
Ukraine's coastguard arrested 11 rowers from Belarus who mistakenly crossed into Ukrainian waters from PridnestrovieDNESTROVSK (Tiraspol Times) - Ukrainian coast guard officials arrested eleven members of the national rowing team of Belarus for paddling across an international frontier. The border patrol arrested the members of Belarus's national rowing team for illegally entering the country on a flotilla of eight boats.
The Belarusians had been invited to train for the world championship in Pridnestrovie as reservoirs in their ex-Soviet state, further north, were still covered in ice.
The incident took place near Ukraine's Gradenitsy checkpoint in the south-west corner of Ukraine on the waters of the Kuchurgan Liman, a saltwater lake on the border between Ukraine and Trans-Dniester (Pridnestrovie). The lake is located in the southern part of PMR, and is home to a beach which is popular with swimmers in the summer.
The rowers were 300 meters inside Ukrainian waters when arrested. Since they were training, they did not carry passports. Their passports were left in their hotel rooms in Dnestrovsk, near Tiraspol.