MOSCOW, August 15 (RIA Novosti) – Russia has sent another diplomatic note to Ukraine seeking an explanation of the possible detention of Rossiya Segodnya photographer Andrei Stenin (#freeAndrew), a source in the Russian embassy in Kiev said Friday.
“The embassy [in Kiev] has sent another note to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry concerning the disappearance of Andrei Stenin, with a request to comment on the statement by [an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister] Anton Herashchenko about the possible detention of our journalist by ‘Ukrainian security services’,” the source said.
According to the diplomat, the authorities in Ukraine have not yet responded to the previous diplomatic note filed with Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry over the issue on Monday.
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 Interior Ministry of Ukraine to take immediate action to locate the agency’s photographer. The request was entered into the register of pre-trial investigations on August 11.
A day later, Anton Herashchenko, an aide to Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, said in an interview with Baltkom radio that Stenin had been arrested by the Ukrainian Security Service on charges of aiding terrorists.
Later Herashchenko claimed he was misinterpreted saying he only assumed the photographer had been detained but disclosed no precise information. Baltkom said it had a recording of Herashchenko’s interview and provided it to Rossiya Segodnya.
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.
