RFE/RL Reporter In Crimea Abducted, Warned

RFE/RL correspondent Levko Stek

An RFE/RL correspondent says he was briefly kidnapped by unknown assailants in Crimea this week and later abandoned in a field.

Levko Stek said on Facebook that he arrived in Crimea on March 16, the day of the Ukrainian republic's disputed referendum on joining Russia.

On March 17, he was pulled out of a bus in the town of Bakhchysarai, in central Crimea, by a group of unknown people who handcuffed him, pulled a black bag over his head, and pushed him into the back of a car.

After driving around for some time, he says, they left him in a field, warning him never to come again to Crimea.