MOSCOW, August 22. /ITAR-TASS/. The Russian journalistic community has appealed to Russian and Ukrainian authorities and international organizations to do everything possible to save Andrei Stenin, a photo correspondent of the Rossiya Segodnya international news agency (former Russian news agency RIA Novosti), who has disappeared in Ukraine.
Journalists in their statement signed by about a hundred people said they were united by the concern about the fate of the colleague. Work of reporters in zones of armed conflicts is always dangerous. Presence of reporters may not suit one or another side and sometimes both sides. Any correspondent from any country may get into trouble. The community of journalists must not keep silent in such cases, they said.
"We call on everybody, the employer of Andrei Stenin, Russian and Ukrainian ministries and departments, the presidents of the two countries, international public organizations and associations of journalists, everyone who may influence it, to make every possible effort to find and save our colleague," said the statement published on the website of the Russian Union of Journalists.
Contact with Andrei Stenin who worked in eastern Ukraine was lost on August 5. Some sources said he was detained by Ukrainian authorities. On August 16, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry launched search for the missing Russian reporter.