Journalist freed from captivity after more than 150 days in Syria

A Ukrainian journalist who was kidnapped in Syria is free after more than 150 days in captivity, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry confirmed today.

Ministry spokesman Yevhen Perebiynis said the reporter, Ankhar Kochneva, is expected to contact the Ukrainian embassy in the Syrian capital, Damascus, later today.

Ms Kochneva, who has written for Syrian and Russian newspapers, was kidnapped in western Syria on October 9 and reportedly held by members of the Free Syrian Army opposition group. Mr Perebiynis said he had no further information on her.

The Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda quoted Ms Kochneva as saying she had walked away from the house where she was being held, skirted a rebel guardpost and then walked about nine miles (15km) through fields until finding a villager who helped her.