MOSCOW, August 18 (RIA Novosti) – The fate of missing Rossiya Segodnya photojournalist Andrei Stenin (#FreeAndrew) remains unknown two weeks after his disappearance, the head of Rossiya Segodnya’s photo department said Monday.
"The agency did everything possible to have a criminal investigation opened into Andrei’s disappearance in eastern Ukraine, and so this case was opened, but to no avail so far. The only thing we have is a rather cynical statement by Anton Gerashchenko, an advisor to Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, that he is not bothered with the question of Andrei’s fate," head of the Integrated Photography Directorate at International Information Agency Rossiya Segodnya Alexander Shtol said at a press conference at the agency.
Stenin’s colleagues from other media sources were present at the press conference, and expressed concern about his fate.
Since August 5, colleagues have been unable to reach Stenin, who had been working in eastern Ukraine. Sources reported that the photographer had been detained by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in Zaporizhia Region in southern Ukraine, a claim later denied by Kiev.
On August 9, Rossiya Segodnya filed a request with the Ukrainian Interior Ministry to take immediate action to locate the photographer. The request was entered into the register of pre-trial investigations on August 11.
A day later, Anton Gerashchenko, an aide to the Ukrainian interior minister, said in an interview with Baltkom radio that Stenin had been arrested by the SBU on charges of assisting terrorists.
Later Gerashchenko claimed he was misinterpreted saying he only assumed the photographer had been detained but possessed no precise information. Baltkom said it had a recording of Gerashchenko’s interview and provided it to Rossiya Segodnya.
Russia has already filed two diplomatic notes to Ukraine over Stenin’s case urging Kiev to comment on Herashchenko’s statement.
On August 15, Russia’s human rights ombudsman Ella Pamfilova said her Ukrainian counterpart Valeriya Lutkovska had formally requested Ukraine’s law enforcement bodies help locate the missing Rossiya Segodnya photographer, but has achieved no tangible results thus far.
Please support Andrei Stenin’s release by sharing the hashtag #FreeAndrew in social networks. Andrei is a professional war photographer reporting from the most dangerous war zones in the world. You can view Andrei’s pictures from Iraq, Egypt, Syria, Libya here and his most recent shots from eastern Ukraine here.
