* Journalist disappeared in August; presumed dead
* EU, US call on Ukranian leader to protect journalists
BRUSSELS, Sept 20 (Reuters) - The European Union and the United States have expressed concern over the disappearance of a Ukrainian journalist last month and urged Ukraine to do all it can to protect journalists.
Vasyl Klymentyev, editor-in-chief of the "Noviy Stil" newspaper, which focuses on corruption in a region of east Ukraine, went missing on Aug. 11, according to police reports.
Interior Minister Anatoly Mogylyov has said law enforcement officers may have been involved in his disappearance. Klymentyev is now presumed dead, though his body has not been found.
An EU statement at a meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Vienna on Thursday recalled a pledge by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich to uphold media pluralism and protect journalists.
"In this context, the EU expresses its deep concern over the disappearance of ... Vasyl Klymentyev," it said.
"We welcome the personal attention of President Yanukovich in the investigation into Mr Klymentyev's disappearance and his call for law enforcement bodies to do everything possible to find Mr Klymentyev."
Klymentyev's disappearance came ahead of the 10th anniversary last week of the killing of another journalist, Georgy Gongadze, which continues to cause political unrest in Ukraine.
A U.S. statement to the OSCE meeting said Washington shared EU concerns about the safety of journalists and expressed the hope Ukraine would continue to investigate the Gongadze case and provide more information about Klymentyev's disappearance.
"A free media sector is not only essential to preserving the important democratic gains that Ukraine has made; it can also be a highly valuable tool in the fight against corruption, which the government has made a priority," the statement said.
The EU welcomed the fact that the OSCE will be sending a human rights representative to Ukraine for a two-day visit next month to gather information on press freedom.
Gongadze, a strong critic of the then leadership of Leonid Kuchma, disappeared in Kiev in September 2000. His headless corpse was found outside the capital two months later.
Authorities in Kiev have sought to draw a line under that episode by naming a dead interior minister as the person who ordered the crime.
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