DONETSK, May 12 (RAPSI) – Novaya Gazeta journalist Pavel Kanygin has been detained due to ID problems at a pro-federation roadblock in Artemivsk, Donetsk Region, RIA Novosti learned Monday from the press service of the Donetsk People’s Republic.

“He was detained at approximately midnight local time (1 AM Moscow time) at a roadblock in Artemivsk, and he is still being held there. He had no accreditation papers from the Donetsk People’s Republic, and he also carried materials that are damaging to the republic,” a press service official said.

The Ekho Moskvy radio station announced, citing freelance photographer Petr Shelomovskiy, who has been covering the Ukrainian crisis since the beginning, that Kanygin could have been abducted. Shelomovsky said he had received the following text message from him: “I’ve been abducted; phone Moscow.” Kanygin’s cell phone is no longer responding.

Novaya Gazeta management later announced that they had no information about Kanygin’s alleged abduction in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian authorities are conducting a special operation with the regular army in southeastern Ukraine, where pro-federalization demonstrations erupted in March.

Moscow has repeatedly urged Kiev to ensure the safety of journalists working in the region. The latest incident involving a journalist was on May 9, when a freelance journalist working for the RT television channel received a gunshot wound in the stomach while filming the fighting in Mariupol.