BREAKING NEWS: Andrei Stenin dead

Rock Solid Politics‏@BradCabana

Today, the body of #Russia journalist Andrei Stenina was found. He had previously been detained by #Ukraine forces. #cdnpoli

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Missing Russian journalist 

Andrey Stenin confirmed 

dead in Ukraine

Russian photojournalist Andrey Stenin, missing in eastern Ukraine for a month, has been found dead, RIA Novosti, the news agency where he worked, has confirmed.

RT,

3 September, 2014

Stenin, 33, a photojournalist contributing to several leading Russian and international news agencies including AP, Reuters, AFP, Rossiya Segodnya (RIA Novosti) and ITAR-TASS, had been covering the conflict in eastern Ukraine before all contact with him was lost on August 5.

In mid-August, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, said that Stenin had been arrested by the Ukrainian Security Service for “aiding and glorifying terrorism.” He later backtracked on the statement.

Stenin’s disappearance prompted rallies in his support all over the world, as well as an online campaign #FreeAndrew.

READ MORE: #FreeAndrew goes global: Rallies demand Russian reporter missing in Ukraine freed

Stenin was an experienced war photographer. The work he did in Ukraine included pictures of Ukrainian troops captured by self-defense forces, the horrific results of Ukrainian artillery shelling of insurgency-held cities and the crash site of the MH17 plane that was downed over the Donetsk region in July.

Ever since Stenin went missing, Moscow has been putting a great deal of pressure on Kiev, calling on the Ukrainian authorities to assist in finding and rescuing the journalist.

Russia’s Investigative Committee launched a criminal case over what was regarded as a possible kidnapping.

All major international human rights watchdogs - Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the International Federation of Journalists – have called for urgent investigation into Stenin’s disappearance.

Rossiya Segodnya's director also said that mediators on the Ukrainian side were earlier offering to negotiate Stenin's release - possibly an exchange - in this way giving credence to the view that he may be alive.

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