MOSCOW. June 17 (Interfax) - The television channel Zvezda said a ransom had been demanded for the release of the Zvezda reporters detained in Ukraine on June 14.
"A couple of hours following their detention Right Sector people got in touch with the editors to demand a ransom. They threatened to deal with the journalists harshly if they did not get the money," Zvezda spokesman Maxim Dodonov said in a TV program shown by Zvezda on Monday evening.
He said the captors demanded $200,000 for the reporters' release. The abducted journalists' relatives were threatened, he added.
Head of the Krasnaya Zvezda media holding Alexei Pimanov said the release of the abducted Zvezda journalists had been negotiated in talks. "The guys have been freed. They are feeling well for this situation. The problem was settled through diplomacy," Pimanov told Interfax.
"No ransom was paid," he added.