BRUSSELS, August 11 (RIA Novosti) – The European Union is concerned with the fate of Andrei Stenin, a Rossiya Segodnya photographer, who went missing in Ukraine last week, and is trying to help, an EU official said Monday.
“We’ve also told our delegation in Kiev about the situation and [are ready] to be helpful. We are very concerned for the fate of journalists who are working in difficult condition in zones of war and territories under the control of separatists, as well as in the regions under the control of the government. We are concerned, we know about this case and are trying to be as helpful as possible,” the source said on the condition of anonymity.
Earlier today, the Russian Embassy in Kiev sent a diplomatic note to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry in regard to Stenin’s disappearance.
Stenin, who was working in Donetsk, Slaviansk and other eastern Ukrainian cities, went missing on August 5. On August 8, an informed source told RIA Novosti that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in the Zaporizhia Region was holding the photographer in southern Ukraine. A spokesman for the local SBU office denied the information.
Earlier on Saturday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia was trying its best to coordinate with corresponding agencies to secure Stenin’s return.
On August 9, Rossiya Segodnya submitted an application to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry with a request to take urgent measures to find Stenin. The office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media said earlier that it was checking reports on Stenin’s disappearance. The American Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is also investigating the case.
