MOSCOW, August 22 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow has taken all measures to save the life of Russian tourist Konstantin Zhuravlev, kidnapped in Syria last year, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Friday.
“Given the delicacy of the issue, and since any careless publication or information leak can cause an irreparable damage, we believe it is expedient to just say that Russia’s Foreign Ministry has taken all the necessary measures to save the life and health of Zhuravlev and to liberate him,” the statement reads.
“The work has been in progress with the Syrian authorities, as well as with the representatives of the opposition, including National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces. The requests have been sent to the representatives in the United States, France, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other international and regional parties capable to influence Syrian armed groups,” the ministry said.
Zhuravlev, a 32-year-old former computer programmer, went missing in Syria in October 2013. Later, militants from the Liva al-Tauhid extremist group announced on the Internet that they had captured a Russian spy.
Zhuravlev entered Syria from Turkey and was hitchhiking his way to the Sahara Desert as part of a project called “Alone with the Desert,” when he was detained in Aleppo by Syrian rebels on suspicion of spying for the Syrian government and for Russia, according to a friend.
