A Free Syrian Army fighter runs for cover, as another fires his weapon during heavy clashes with government forces in Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013. The revolt against President Bashar Assad began in March 2011 with peaceful protests but morphed into a civil war that has killed more than 60,000 people, according to a recent United Nations recent estimate. (AP Photo/Andoni Lubaki)
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A Free Syrian Army fighter runs for cover, as another fires his weapon during heavy clashes with government forces in Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013. The revolt against President Bashar Assad began in March 2011 with peaceful protests but morphed into a civil war that has killed more than 60,000 people, according to a recent United Nations recent estimate. (AP Photo/Andoni Lubaki)
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In this citizen journalism image taken on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013 and provided by Edlib News Network, ENN, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, relatives and mourners prepare to bury body of a Free Syrian Army fighter, Fouad Mohammed, who was injured during the battle of Taftanaz air base earlier this month, during his funeral, at Binsh village in Idlib province, north Syria. (AP Photo/Edlib News Network ENN)
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Syrian men heat a fire to boil water near their tent at a refugee camp near the Turkish border, in Azaz, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)
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Syrian children warm themselves at a refugee camp near the Turkish border, in Azaz, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 9, 2012. Temperatures dropped to 9 degrees Celsius (48 degrees Fahrenheit) in Azaz. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)
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Syrian children wait in line for food distribution at a refugee camp near the Turkish border, in Azaz, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)
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Syrian girls wait for food distribution at a refugee camp near the Turkish border, in Azaz, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)
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Syrian children play at a refugee camp near the Turkish border, in Azaz, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)
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Syrians wait in line for food distribution at a refugee camp near the Turkish border, in Azaz, Syria, Sunday, Dec. 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)
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This citizen journalism image provided by Aleppo Media Center AMC, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows people searching through the debris of destroyed buildings in the aftermath of a strike by Syrian government forces, in the neighborhood of Jabal Bedro, Aleppo, Syria, Tuesday Feb. 19, 2013. The U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria released a 131-page report Monday, Feb. 18, 2013, detailing deepening radicalization by both sides and says fighters on both sides in Syria's civil war have committed atrocities and should be brought to justice. (AP Photo/Aleppo Media Center AMC)
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This image taken from video obtained from Bambuser, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows smoke and fire after a fighter jet crashed into a suburb of Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. The United Nations says at least 70,000 people have been killed since the conflict began in March 2011 as an uprising against Bashar Assad’s rule. The revolt turned into a civil war that has taken increasingly sectarian overtones with mostly Sunni Muslim opposition forces fighting to topple the regime dominated by Alawites, an offshoot Shiite group.(AP Photo/Bambuser, SNN Hamouria via AP video)
Ukrainian journalist kidnapped in Syria is free
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian news reports say a Ukrainian journalist who was kidnapped by rebels in Syria five months ago is now free.
Anhar Kochneva was working as an interpreter for a Russian TV crew when she was kidnapped in western Syria on Oct. 9 by members of the Free Syrian Army, according to the Ukrainian government. Her kidnappers reportedly threatened to kill her unless a ransom was paid.
The state news agency RIA Novosti reported that it had spoken to Kochneva by telephone on Monday, and she said she had escaped her captors and was on her way to Damascus, the Syrian capital.
The news agency said a spokesman for Ukraine's Foreign Ministry confirmed that the journalist was free. The ministry issued no statement and could not be reached for comment.
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