MOSCOW, December 19 (RAPSI) – Russian investigators suspect chief of Ukraine's Security Service Valentyn Nalyvaichenko of being the mastermind behind the abduction of two Russian journalists, RIA Novosti reported on Friday, citing Russian Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin.

“According to investigators, Nalyvaichenko, acting jointly with the heads of other Ukrainian law-enforcement and security agencies and using SBU personnel and resources, masterminded the kidnapping of LifeNews journalists Oleg Sidyakin and Marat Saichenko during the armed conflict in Donbass,” Markin said.

Sidyakin and Saichenko were detained near Kramatorsk, located in the conflict-stricken region of Donetsk in Eastern Ukraine, in mid-May.

Markin said the SBU held the journalists until May 25, 2014, subjecting them to physical and psychological pressure, including beating and other violent methods.

“Besides, Nalyvaichenko organized the kidnapping of Zvezda TV reporter Yevgeny Davydov and sound engineer Nikita Konashenkov at a roadblock on the Donetsk-Dnepropetrovsk highway on June 14, 2014,” Marking said, adding that the journalists are Russian nationals and did not take part in the armed conflict in Ukraine.

He said that Davydov and Konashenkov were beaten to force them to make false statements about developments in Ukraine.

A week before that kidnapping, Zvezda cameraman Andrei Sushenkov and sound engineer Anton Malyshev, who were in Ukraine to cover the inauguration ceremony of President Petro Poroshenko, were detained on suspicion of espionage. They said upon their return to Russia that for two days they were held in a stuffy room, given very little to drink and were beaten.