AKIPRESS.COM - The Ukranian authorities have taken no measures to help release LIfeNews journalists despite the OSCE appeals, Director General of LifeNews television Ashot Gabrelyanov told ITAR-TASS on Tuesday.

The LifeNews chief has confirmed reports that the journalists were brought to the building of the Ukrainian Security Service in Kiev where they are being interrogated. “I have attempted to analyze the situation, and the conclusion is that the Kiev administration has not reacted to the OSCE criticism and taken no measures for their release,” Gabrelyanov said.

On May 19, OSCE media freedom representative Dunya Miyatovic appealed to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, asking to release the Russian journalists detained near Kramatorsk. In a letter addressed to Ukrainian Acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, the OSCE representative expressed concern over the incident and asked to release the journalists and conduct a thorough investigation into the incident, the OSCE press service said.

The LifeNews journalists, Oleg Sidyakin and Marat Saychenko, were detained by the Ukrainian law enforcers near Kramatorsk. The journalists had last contacted their colleagues at LifeNews on May 18. The day before Deputy Secretary of the Ukrainian National Security Council Viktoria Syumar accused the Russian journalists of provoking the spread of terrorism in the Donetsk region.