Sweden’s foreign minister stopped at Russian border

Sweden’s foreign minister, Carl Bildt, was stopped by Russian border guards on Tuesday, when he tried to visit a church just over the border from Norway. He had forgotten his diplomatic passport.

“It was essentially my fault,” says the minister on Twitter, but adds that the Russians were not “flexible”, and that a normal passport is often acceptable.

“You have to have your passport with you at all times, we say that a lot here at the ministry,” says Bild’s press secretary Erik Zsiga to tabloid Expressen.