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Chechnya's Kadyrov urges Kiev to free Russian journalists

LifeNews reporters Oleg Sidyakin and Marat Saichenko were detained by Ukraine's National Guard near Kramatorsk in Donetsk region last week

Ramzan Kadyrov ITAR-TASS/Murad Nukhaev

Ramzan Kadyrov

© ITAR-TASS/Murad Nukhaev

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Ukrainian administration ignores OSCE appeals to release LifeNews journalists

GROZNY, May 21. /ITAR-TASS/. Chechnya leader Ramzan Kadyrov urged the Kiev authorities to come to their senses and free the LifeNews journalists detained by Ukrainian secret services.

"I'm surprised and very indignant at the unscrupulous actions of Ukrainian secret services and hypocrisy of their US masters. The Ukrainian leadership continues to use fascist methods. We demand immediate release of (journalists) Sidyakin and Saichenko," Kadyrov wrote on his page in a social network.

LifeNews reporters Oleg Sidyakin and Marat Saichenko were detained by Ukraine's National Guard near Kramatorsk in Donetsk region. They last contacted their colleagues on May 18.

Ukraine's Deputy Secretary of National Defense and Security Council Viktoria Syumar accused the detainees of abetting terrorism.

On Wednesday, the Federation Council demanded in a statement that Ukraine's Verkhovnaya Rada take measures towards freeing the Russian journalists.

The upper house expressed concern "over the persisting trend of outrageous violation of rights and freedoms of Russian reporters working in Ukraine."

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