#3 Russian authorities did not identify the two or say when they were arrested.
But one of the adventurers, Briton Karl Bushby, said on his Web site that he and Dimitry Kieffer of Anchorage, Alaska, reached Chukotka province Friday. It took them 15 days to walk the 56 miles from Alaska to Russian territory. The Web site said Bushby, a 36-year-old former paratrooper, made the crossing as part of a round-the-world walk that began in 1998 at the southern tip of South America.
Bushby's father, Keith, of Hereford, England, confirmed the two had arrived in Russia on Friday and had been detained sometime after that, though he did not know exactly when. In a posting dated Friday, March 31, Karl Bushby's Web site said he and Kieffer were in the village of Uelen, near the point where the Bering Sea meets the Chukchi Sea, about 560 miles northwest of the provincial capital Anadyr.
Keith Bushby said the travelers were headed south down the coast en route to the city of Provideniya, about 380 miles northeast of Anadyr, to officially register with Russian authorities. But they were stopped on their way there in the small village of Lavrenty, about 500 miles northwest of Anadyr. They did not enter the country at a border crossing, so they had no stamps in their passports.
``Because they were walking across the Bering Strait, they could not take the normal route. Consequently, they didn't have the correct stamps and a landing permit,'' Keith Bushby told The Associated Press. ``We don't blame the Russian bodyguards because they are doing their job. Karl fully expected a problem, because he knew this would happen.'' He added that his son was feeling fine but was upset that his trip through Russia could be cut short if the authorities deny him permission to continue his travels.
Bushby wants to be the first person to walk all the way around the world, his Web site says. Since the beginning of his journey on Nov. 1, 1998, he has covered 17,000 miles, walking through South, Central and North America. |
British and American citizens have been detained in the Far Eastern Russian province of Chukotka, governed by Roman Abramovich, for illegally crossing the Russian state border, RIA Novosti reported. Presumably, the two foreigners are tourists. “The detainees have passports, commercial visas, tents and arctic equipment with them. A .44 Magnum-Colt pistol and cartridges have been also found among their belongings,” a local security services spokesman said.