MOSCOW, September 3 (RIA Novosti) – Ukrainian mediators proposed Rossiya Segodnya to negotiate swapping missing photojournalist Andrei Stenin for someone else, implying that he was still alive, the international news agency’s Director General Dmitry Kiselev said Wednesday.
The Russian Investigative Committee confirmed Wednesday that Stenin died approximately a month ago, when the car he was travelling in came under fire and near Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
“Mediators [representing] the Ukrainian side contacted our agency and suggested holding talks on swapping him, implying that Stenin is alive,” the Rossiya Segodnya director general said.
He said that Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, said shortly after Stenin’s disappearance, that the reporter was held by Ukrainian security services. He retracted the statement later, saying he was misunderstood.
Stenin went missing in eastern Ukraine on August 5. Sources said that the journalist was possibly held by the Ukrainian military, but Kiev has never officially confirmed the information.
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 11.
On August 12, Herashchenko 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.
Stenin joined Rossiya Segodnya’s predecessor, RIA Novosti, in 2009. He reported from many conflict zones, including Syria, and covered the Arab Spring events in Egypt.
