MOSCOW, August 21./ITAR-TASS/. Bewilderment sets in as Sergei Naryshkin, speaker of the Russian parliament’s lower house State Duma, muses on why Ukrainian authorities and the West are silent over the disappearance of Russian reporter Andrei Stenin in Ukraine.

For they are silent, he told journalists, "ignoring all official inquiries from Russia though there are grounds to believe official Kiev could shed light on the missing reporter's fate," Naryshkin said on Thursday, adding that he was puzzled at lack of interest in the West.

Photo-journalist Stenin, working in eastern Ukraine for news organization Rossiya Segodnya - formerly agency Ria-Novosti - disappeared on August 5. There has been no contact with him since. Many international organisations have expressed concern about his fate.

Russians were shocked at the cold-blooded murder of American reporter James Foley, killed by radical Islamists, said Naryshkin. 

"It is impossible to talk about global security while such a bloody conflict, partially bought from outside, continues right in the centre of Europe in Ukraine.

"I hope the realization that we have common tasks facing us will bring more sense to the policy of Western countries toward Russia, help restore confidence and return the partnership dialogue between us," Naryshkin said.