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A journalist from St. Petersburg, Russia, suddenly and unexplainably suffered from the first ever European Games Baku hosted last summer, according to the website of the Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti (SPv Vedomosti) newspaper.

About 1.3 thousand media representatives, including over 500 hundred foreign journalists, were accredited for the European Games Azerbaijan hosted with great pomp in June 2015. The newspaper writes that in order to highlight ‘the significance of the sport event and leave a lasting memory about it,’ the border patrol agents in the airport sealed round stamps with the Games’ emblem, a pomegranate, below the average entry and exit stamps in the St. Petersburg journalist’s passport as he was departing from Baku. The newspaper alleges that he was not the only one to have such a stamp.

For several months, the journalist travelled abroad, including to Finland, with that passport without suspecting anything. However, when he went to the Finnish consulate to obtain a visa at the end of 2015, they refused him. He was told that the passport was not a valid document for travelling because of an unofficial stamp sealed in it. The owner of the passport was offered to obtain a new international passport.

“This means that the Azerbaijanis’ deep love for sport cost the Petersburgian spending of money for several times, including registration fees for a new passport as well as for a second attempt to obtain the visa. Not to speak of the lost time and ruined plans made one or one-and-a half month ahead,” the SPv Vedomosti highlights.

The newspaper was told at the Federal Migration Service that any mark (symbol, inscription), except for an entry and exit stamp, sealed in a passport makes the document invalid and subject to changing. “Why did the Azerbaijani border agents undertake this wonderful campaign? Was this a result of a simple professional ignorance and a wish to distinguish themselves or a deliberate villainy (some specialists allege such variant, as well)?” the newspaper wonders.

The SPv Vedomosti reached the Consulate General of the Republic of Azerbaijan in St. Petersburg for a comment. The newspaper’s request was redirected to the border service of the country. After a continuous suspense, the State Border Service of Azerbaijan said that “corresponding stamps with the logotype of the Games were worked out and used in accordance with the 15th item of the action plan ‘On the organisation of the accreditation system of the participants of the first European Games and of the individuals involved in the games,’ approved by decision #31 of the cabinet of ministers of the Azerbaijan Republic on 09.02.2015.” This was done for ‘the participants, who had handed over or lost their accreditation cards, in order to provide an unimpeded crossing of border checkpoints of the Azerbaijan Republic.’

On 12-28 June, Baku hosted the first European Games under the auspices of the European Olympic Committee. According to media estimates, the Games cost the Azerbaijani population $10 billion. They became a serious headache for the locals because of numerous bans and property demolitions. The preparatory works for the Games were accompanied not only by numerous reports about ‘bugs’ and accidents, but also crackdowns and brutal repressions against dissent.