A Russian activist, who was on a mission to search for the children of Russian militants, has gone missing near the Syrian province of Idlib.
Oleg Melnikov, 28, founder of the anti-slavery group Alternativa, arrived near the city of Idlib on Wednesday night. But he missed planned calls the next day, his colleague Maxim Vaganov said.
“He could have been kidnapped or killed upon arriving in the area,” Vaganov was quoted as saying by a Russian newspaper.
Russian security forces in Moscow or the Russian army in Syria have not issued any statements on the matter.
Alternativa has been in the past years working on freeing people from exploitative situations in Russia. In the past few months, its activism focused on the Middle East, saying it has received “requests to search for children kidnapped and taken to Arab countries.”
Alternativa officials did not give details on the type of mission that took Melnikov to Idlib, vaguely saying he was there to try to rescue the children of Russian fighters.
Alternativa was launched in 2011 and became famous after freeing exploited workers in Dagestan and Moscow.
The head of the group’s travel to Syria and his disappearance in Idlib drew more suspicion on its activities.
