MOSCOW, September 3 (RIA Novosti) - A farewell ceremony for Rossiya Segodnya photojournalist Andrei Stenin will be held on September 5 in the agency’s building, Director General Dmitry Kiselev said Wednesday.
"A farewell ceremony for Andrei Stenin and civil funeral will be held in the agency's building on 4 Zubovsky Boulevard, at 10-12 a.m. Moscow time [06:00-08:00 GMT] on Friday, September 5. The funeral will take place later the same day at Troyekurovskoye Cemetery. Coincidentally, this day marks a full month from the moment Andrei was touch with us for the last time,” Kiselev said.
"A lot of people have already expressed their condolences on the tragic death of Andrei, and we are waiting for all who wish to pay last respects to him on Friday," Kiselev said.
The agency is requesting media representatives, who will cover the ceremony, to inform Rossiya Segodnya about their presence beforehand by e-mail: accreditation@rian.ru.
On Wednesday, Kiselev announced that according to information from the Russian Investigative Committee, Stenin, who went missing in Ukraine early in August, died about a month ago near Donetsk.
The car, in which Stenin was traveling in while on an editorial assignment, was shot at and torched on a highway just outside the city.
According to the Russian Investigative Committee, Stenin was killed in a Ukrainian attack on a column of refugees guarded by several eastern Ukraine independence supporters.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry demanded that Kiev launch a full investigation into Stenin’s death. Stenin is the fourth Russian journalist killed in the Ukrainian conflict.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and other Russian politicians have expressed their condolences over Stenin’s death.
Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council denied any involvement of Kiev’s militants in the tragedy.