Relatives of kidnapped journalist Anhar Kochneva unaware of her fate

The relatives of Ukrainian journalist Anhar Kochneva, kidnapped in Syria, have received no information about her since the beginning of 2013, Kyiv Post reported, referring to Interfax news agency.

"After the New Year there was no news about her," the nephew of Kochneva, Dmytro, told Interfax-Ukraine.

According to him, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry "lost their activeness" in obtaining the release of the journalist.

"After New Year nobody even called me from the ministry," he said.

The journalist's nephew also said that mother of the young woman had terminated any contacts with journalists as it was too difficult for her to talk to them.

As reported, Ukrainian journalist Anhar Kochneva was abducted by the gunmen of the free Syrian army in Syria in October. The kidnappers of the journalist threatened to kill her on December 13 if a ransom of $50 million was not paid.

However, on December 17, 2010 Syrian rebels in an interview with TSN television claimed that Ukrainian authorities are doing nothing to set Anhar Kochneva free.

"When we were holding negotiations with the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian Embassy, they were failing to keep their promises and weren't doing anything to have Ankhar released. In this situation, we decided to kill the young woman," the commander of the group that abducted Kochneva told 1+1 television.

The rebels said they had planned to put Kochneva to death on December 16, but decided to "give her a second chance."

Foreign Ministry of Ukraine in turn, claimed that it was taking all necessary measures to release the journalist.

Russia, the United States and France, as well as international human right organizations, have called on the Syrian opposition to release the woman.