MOSCOW: A video message purporting to show a Russian man abducted in Syria set a deadline of five days for the release of a detained Saudi national in exchange for the Russian’s freedom.

The footage posted on YouTube showed a bearded man who identified himself as Sergei Gorbunov and who read a statement saying he would be killed unless he could be swapped for Khaled Suleiman, a Saudi he said had been detained in the city of Hama.

“If I am not exchanged in five days, I will be butchered,” he said in a trembling voice on a grainy video that was also aired on state-run Russian television on Thursday.

An Arabic caption under the video, whose authenticity could not immediately be verified, said the man was captured by the Mujahideen of Ibn Taymiyyah Brigade.

It said he is asking Russia and Syria to agree a hostage swap between him and Khaled Mohammed Suleiman, who it says was captured in Hama by “the Alawite regime.”

“I appeal to presidents of Syria, Russia, the Red Cross ... I have not even started a family at home,” the man said. I’m scared and I want to return to Russia, let someone help me.” The man said he was seized at an airport whose name was inaudible. He said the kidnappers, whom he identified only as “Muslims,” had given him food and treated him well.

“We have not been approached by any parties at this point and we are not in a position to comment further,” a spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross said by e-mail.

Russian officials say another Russian, adventurer Konstantin Zhuravlyov, is being held by rebels in Syria after crossing the border from Turkey earlier this month.