Vasyl Klymentyev, chief editor of the independent weekly Novyi Stil, was last seen leaving his home in Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine, with an unknown man driving a BMW, local press reports said. His girlfriend reported him missing to police.
On August 18, Kharkiv police said in a statement that Klymentyev’s cell phone had been found in a boat at a nearby lake. Police divers did not find the journalist’s body in the lake, local press reports said.
Klymentyev’s deputy, Petr Matviyenko, told the Ukrainian service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that he and Klymentyev had photographed what he described as lavish homes belonging to local officials just two days before the disappearance.
Novyi Stil specialized in reporting on corruption in local government and law enforcement, RFE/RL reported. Matviyenko told RFE/RL that Klymentyev’s recent articles had criticized a local prosecutor and the head of the region’s fiscal police. Ukrainian press reports said Novyi Stil ceased publishing in mid-October.