The Ukrainian Security Service has lifted an entry ban it had earlier imposed on a number of foreign activists and human rights defenders, including journalist Yury Barabash and human rights defender Andrei Yurov, both Russian citizens, the Security Service told journalists on Tuesday.

It was reported earlier that Yurov, a member of the Russian presidential Human Rights Council and a Moscow Helsinki Group expert, had been barred from entering Ukraine to take part in an international conference in Kyiv in early February.

Human Rights Council head Mikhail Fedotov had called on the new Ukrainian authorities on Sunday to lift the entry ban from Yurov.