You're reading: Yanukovych: Assistance of law enforcers from neighboring countries needed to find journalist Klymentyev

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is overseeing the case of the disappearance of Vasyl Klymentyev, the chief editor of Kharkiv-based New Style newspaper, the presidential press service has told Interfax-Ukraine.

On Friday, Yanukovych again summoned Prosecutor General Oleksandr Medvedko and Interior Minister Anatoliy Mohyliov to his administration to present a report on the search for the journalist.

"The law enforcement agencies of Kharkiv region and the whole country should do their best to find the journalist. They should also seek the assistance of law enforcers from states neighboring Ukraine," Yanukovych said.

As reported, the international human rights organization Reporters Without Borders earlier called for a thorough and transparent investigation into the disappearance of Vasyl Klymentyev, the editor-in-chief of Kharkiv-based New Style newspaper, who went missing on August 11, 2010.

"Reporters Without Borders hopes that the authorities will give the case all the attention it deserves and that Klymentyev will soon be found alive," the organization said in a statement sent to Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.

The Interior Ministry said that the relatives of the journalist reported his disappearance at 2230 on August 12. Police officers established during enquiries that on August 11 Klymentyev left home along with an unknown man in a silver BMW car for an unknown destination. Since Klymentyev’s location was not established two days after his relatives filed the missing-person statement, on August 15 the investigation office of the Dzerzhynsky district police department in Kharkiv opened a criminal case under Article 115 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (deliberate murder). Various theories about the journalist’s disappearance are currently being considered, including those linked to the fulfillment of his professional duties.