In Artemivsk, Russian journalist Pavel Kanygin was kidnapped

The correspondent of Russian opposition newspaper "Novaya Gazeta" Pavel Kanygin was kidnapped at night in Artemivsk, Donetska oblast. The Russian journalist Illya Azar informs about this through his Twitter.

"Kanygin sent a text message at night that he was kidnapped, and he thinks they brought him to Slovyansk. A colleague paid a ransom of $1000, they promised to let him go, but the telephone is out of range", he wrote.

Kanygin was covering the voting at the pseudo-referendum.

Later, the journalist Petro Shelomovskiy wrote on Twitter that Kanygin was held by pro-Russian forces in Slovyansk. According to him, the journalist was taken because of what he wrote on  Facebook. At his Facebook page, Kanygin described how accessible the bulletins are for voters, how desperate and outraged the residents of Donbas are and how local administrators that do not support the self-proclaimed "Donetsk republic" disappear.

The journalist of Hromadske.tv Mustafa Nayyem displayed on his Facebook page a screenshot of text messages he exchanged with Kanygin. Kanygin wrote that he is in Artemivsk, and that terrorists demand 30 thousand dollars for his release.

On May 12, Pavel Kanygin contacted his editorial office and said he is waiting for his colleagues to meet.