Ukraine, Mar 19: A Ukrainian journalist has returned home from Syria after escaping captors who held her for more than 150 days.
She recounted her ordeal on Monday, staunchly defending the government of President Bashar Assad and promising to return to Syria to "defend the truth."
Ankhar Kochneva, 40, who has worked in Syria as a travel agent, translator, journalist and blogger for several years, returned to Kiev on Sunday after she walked free last week.
Kochneva was kidnapped in western Syria on 9 October and reportedly held by members of the Free Syrian Army opposition group.
In a video statement, her captors accused her of cooperating with Russian security services and threatened to execute her unless ransom was paid.
None of the rebel brigades officially claimed responsibility for holding the journalist.
Kochneva said she was kidnapped outside the city of Homs when she was riding in a taxi on the way to Damascus.
She said she had been at a beach and had her swimsuit with her.
The journalist said she was held in a small room in a six-room house, which was permanently cold because the windows were broken.
Kochneva said her meals consisted of a piece of flatbread and a half of a tomato, which caused her to lose a lot of weight and brought on other health problems.
Her captors insulted, threatened and psychologically abused her, for instance throwing a washbasin into a wall near where she was standing, she said.
Kochneva denied the rebels' accusations that she was a spy, saying she was a well-known travel agent and editorial assistant working with Russian, Ukrainian and Western media outlets in Syria.
Kochneva said she decided to try to escape after she realised that negotiations on freeing her had reached a dead end and her captors were getting impatient.
"I ran out quietly and nobody heard me. They didn't secure me well, I wasn't chained up. Maybe they got used to me being there for five months and thought if I hadn't run by then, I never would," she said.
Having escaped, she then walked through the fields until she found a resident to help her.
Kochneva said she plans to return to Syria and hopes to receive citizenship from the country and work in its government.
Syrian Ambassador Said Aqil welcomed Kochneva's safe escape and said he would lobby for her receiving Syrian citizenship.
"Ankhar is a very important person for us. She is a very objective person, a person who knows the truth," Aqil said.
Aqil called Kochneva "a fighter for peace and truth".
