Skopje, March 15 (RHC-Xinhua) -- A total of 72 foreign journalists have been fined because they entered Macedonian territory illegally, following a bigger group of migrants from the Greek transition camp Idomeni, Macedonian Ministry of Interior announced Tuesday.

The journalists, most of them citizens of Greece and Germany, had to pay 500 euros (555 U.S. dollars) fine for the illegal crossing of the border and received a six-month ban to report from Macedonian territory, the Ministry of Interior confirmed to Xinhua. They were allowed to return to Greece after they paid the fine.

The situation at the Macedonian-Greek border is escalating with an increased number of attempts for illegal crossings since the Balkan route for legal transit of the migrants is closed.