Russian photographer Konstantin Zhuravlev, who is being held by Syrian rebels who accuse him of being a spy of Assad, has said his captors are prepared to swap him for Syrian opposition fighters held by Bashar al-Assad's regime.
Zhuravlev, 32, has been held by Liwa al-Tawhid group in Syria’s Aleppo city for six months.
“I want to go back to my home and be free. The Liwa al-Tawhid is ready for a two-way exchange between Syrian opposition who have been abducted by the Assad regime,” he told Anadolu Agency in Aleppo.
An experienced traveler, Zhuravlev toured the world for 777 days between June 2010 and August 2012 and had planned to visit the Sahara Desert alone before he was seized.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich announced last September that Russian officials were in close contact with Syrian authorities in an effort to have the Russian citizen released.
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