MOSCOW, August 20 (RIA Novosti) – The Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council said Wednesday it has no information on the fate of Rossiya Segodnya photographer Andrei Stenin, who went missing in Ukraine about two weeks ago.
When asked by reporters whether the council had any information about Stenin’s fate, spokesman Andriy Lysenko replied: “We have no such information about this photographer’s disappearance.”
Since August 5, Stenin’s colleagues have been unable to reach the photographer who had been working in eastern Ukraine. Sources reported that the photographer had been detained by the Ukrainian Security Service (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 Herashchenko, an aide to the Ukrainian interior minister, said in an interview with Baltkom radio that Stenin had been arrested by the security forces on charges of assisting terrorists.
Later Herashchenko claimed he was misinterpreted, saying he only assumed the photographer had been detained but had no precise information. Baltkom said it had a recording of Gerashchenko’s interview and provided it to Rossiya Segodnya.
