VICE Magazine journalist kidnapped by Pro-Russian Seperatists

VICE news did a good job covering the Crimea and now Easter Ukraine situation.
Apparently the leading journalist Simon Ostrovsky, starring in all the video, got kidnapped by Pro-Russian-Seperatists.
Vice news statement

VICE News is aware of the situation and is in contact with the US State Department and other appropriate government authorities to secure the safety and security of our friend and colleague, Simon Ostrovsky.

Check back here for more updates on this developing situation.

Source news.vice.com...

Hope this is the right forum

a reply to: aLLeKs This is a tweet I found from a rt site I have been using to update the Ukraine situation ...."Ive just spoken with peoples mayor of Sloviansk, he says Simon is ok, news soon." rt.com...

ETA "18:08 GMT:
RT stringer Graham Phillips says he has personally found VICE journalist Simon Ostrovsky in Slavyansk."

good news, he does a pretty good job. better than all other media outlets.
He gets in trouble quite often because of this

Really stupid move on the part of the pro-russian movement. A lot of people have been watching VICE news coverage of the crisis on youtube to get a feel for the reality of the situation on the ground (something the western media hasn't been doing). Kidnapping the guy doesn't exactly help them make their case to the rest of the world.

I like how they are calling him a "guest". What if your "guest" wants to leave? And will you confiscate your guest's footage?

Jerusalem Post is reporting that pro-russian militants have claimed Simon has joined the separatist movement. Yeah ok... That's totally believable.

www.jpost.com...

“Nobody abducted [him], nobody holds [him] hostage, he is now with us,” Ponomarev was quoted as saying at a news conference that was held amid reports that Ostrovsky had been kidnapped. Ponomarev added that Ostrovsky was now “working, preparing materials.”

Simons last tweet before being detained:

“Now he’s not letting reporters leave the press conference: ‘you’ll go as you came in. In a group.’ That’s one way to guarantee coverage.”

This isn't the first time VICE has offened Russia. They did a report with undercover footage of North Korean slaves being held near Tynda that also exposed police corruption, gang mentality and loads of other stuff.

If they do not give us back Simon I say we send in The Navy Seals to get him. Freaking guy has done for for telling the world what is happening in the Ukraine that ANY other news stations or sources.

Stupid move on Russias part.

a reply to: Mamatus

Sort of surprised more people aren't talking about this. I figured a lot of people around ATS would be fans of VICE news.

Vice ROCKS! Simon ROCKS also! This group represent to me one of the few true journalism teams left. One could say it's biased for a slew of reasons and I'll bet some do but at the end of the day you can side for yourself just by tuning in.

For those interested, this guy claims to have updates on Simon's situation, but seems to have some RT connection, so I'm not sure if his information is at all accurate:

twitter.com...

It would seem militants in Sloviansk have been busy rounding up journalists in the last week. Simon is just the latest victim:

www.ibtimes.com...