A Japanese freelance journalist is missing after heading for Chechnya in southern Russia, French organization Reporters Sans Frontiers reported from Paris on Thursday.

RSF said that Kosuke Tsuneoka, 32, has been missing since late July, when he last sent an e-mail from Georgia.

A friend of his said in Fukuoka on Friday that the journalist had planned to return to Georgia by mid-August after completing his coverage of Chechen rebels.