Moscow - British adventurer Karl Bushby is to appeal against a court order deporting him from Russia, wrecking his plan to walk from South America to Britain.
The court in the remote eastern Chukotka region ruled last week that Bushby had broken the law by failing to get a stamp in his passport when he stumbled on to Russian soil after walking from Alaska across the treacherous ice of the Bering Strait.
"On Wednesday or Thursday the foreigners will file an appeal with the district court, from where it will be sent on to a higher court," Chukotka district court judge Yuri Ivanov was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.
Anyone deported from Russia is barred for five years - a bitter blow for Bushby, a former paratrooper who, after seven years of walking, is halfway through his 60 000km trek.
His objective is to follow an unbroken route on foot. From Chukotka, the only way home is through Russian territory. If this is off-limits to Bushby, the trip is over, his support team say.
Bushby, 37, crossed the Bering Strait with Dmitri Kieffer, an American he met in Alaska.
The court also ordered that Kieffer be deported.
The Russian media have given extensive coverage to Bushby's case, portraying him as a plucky British eccentric foiled by Russian red tape.
Bushby's father, Keith, has appealed to billionaire Roman Abramovich, governor of Chukotka and owner of Britain's Chelsea soccer club, to intervene. - Reuters