‘Putin-mask’ protester seeks asylum

KIEV: A Russian man who was repeatedly arrested for donning masks of President Vladimir Putin in anti-Kremlin pickets has crossed into Ukraine and is seeking political asylum.

Roman Roslovtsev has spent weeks in detention for putting on an unflattering rubber caricature of the Russian leader´s face during protests against what critics call Putin´s suppression of free speech and basic human rights.

The Ukrainian border guard service said the 36-year-old entered Ukraine on Sunday and will formally seek political asylum on Monday.

Roslovtsev has reportedly been arrested on 11 occasions and has claimed that he was being hounded by Russia´s FSB security service that Putin headed between 1998 and 1999.

He told Kiev´s Hromadske.ua news site on Sunday that he would like to join the Ukrainian army and fight pro-Kremlin rebels in the separatist east that Putin has denied backing during a 28-month conflict which has claimed more than 9,500 lives.