American Reporter and Translator Disappear in Slavyansk, Ukraine
American Reporter and Translator Disappear in Slavyansk, Ukraine
Mike Giglio, a reporter for the American outlet Buzzfeed, and interpreter Yelena Glazunova disappeared on the morning of May 2 in Slavyansk, Donetsk region, Novosti Donbassa reports.
It is impossible to reach them by phone. The last communication was when Giglio told editors, “We’ve been seized at a checkpoint.” He later managed to report that separatists had sent him and Glazunova to the occupied Ukrainian Security Service building in Slavyansk.
Speaking for the separatists, Stella Khoroshova said they had not detained Glazunova or Giglio and were looking for them themselves.
The Institute for Mass Information has described the situation in eastern Ukraine as critically dangerous for journalists, and has recorded 18 abductions of media-sector workers.
They include Lviv journalist Yury Lelyavsky, a stringer for ZIK television, abducted by persons unknown in Slavyansk. Open Dialogue journalist Sergei Lefter and web-streamer Artem Deynega were abducted ion April 16 and 18, respectively.
This article republished from Ukrainska Pravda with kind permission.
