MOSCOW, September 2 (RIA Novosti) - International Information Agency Rossiya Segodnya calls on media outlets to abstain from making premature statements about the death of Andrei Stenin, Director General of Rossiya Segodnya Dmitry Kiselev said Tuesday.
“We still do not have the final results of the genetic expertise. They are going to be published soon, but we do not have them yet. As far as I know, there have been similar mistakes in the past, for example, in the case of the passengers aboard the Polish president’s plane. We do not want to be in a similar position. The mourning statements that we are hearing today are premature and immoral,” Kiselev said.
“We call on our colleagues and everyone else to refrain from making such [statements]. We do not want to keep anything hidden and we are in full contact with the Investigative Committee. As soon as the examination is over and we know the final results, we will be the first to inform you about it,” Kiselev added.
Photojournalist Andrei Stenin went missing in eastern Ukraine on August 5. On August 9, Rossiya Segodnya filed a request with the Ukrainian Interior Ministry to take action in order to locate Stenin, with the ministry undertaking the case.
On August 12, Anton Herashchenko, an aide to the Ukrainian interior minister, said in an interview with Baltkom radio that security forces had arrested Stenin on charges of assisting terrorists. However, later Herashchenko claimed he was misinterpreted.
At the end of August, the OSCE reported that they found several bodies in one of many shot and burned cars alongside the Snezhny-Dmitrovka highway in eastern Ukraine. OSCE representatives claimed that Stenin could be one of the dead, but were unable to confirm it.
The remains of the bodies from the car were sent for genetic expertise.
Andrei Stenin is an experienced journalist. He is working for RIA Novosti news agency, upon which Rossiya Segodnya was established, from 2009. During this time, he has worked in Egypt, Syria, and other conflict zones.
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.
