After a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Federation began to massively kidnap Ukrainian citizens in the occupied territories, while using torture, places and executions on people. The aggressor country began to intimidate and suppress the resistance of Ukrainians with the help of enforced disappearances back in 2014, when it occupied Crimea. Later, this practice became widespread in the territory of the so-called LDNR, but after February 24, enforced disappearances became a mass phenomenon, said Tatyana Pechonchik, head of the ZMINA Human Rights Center, during an online conference on August 30 on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances.

So, for half a year of a full-scale war, ZMINA recorded at least 311 cases of enforced disappearances in the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia.. Of these, 181 people were released.. Another 118 are considered missing or in captivity..

The victims are active members of local communities, including representatives of local governments, journalists, volunteers, educators, religious and cultural figures and activists. The occupiers kidnap those who agree with the occupation, or their family members..

“We can confidently state that activists and volunteers, local government officials, teachers and other people who actively show their position are at particular risk of enforced disappearances.. To date, we have recorded at least 127 cases of kidnappings of activists and volunteers, 98 kidnappings of local government officials and 28 teachers,” said ZMINA researcher Nadezhda Dobryanskaya.

She also added that 12 people were tortured or killed in captivity or died after being released because they could not survive the torture.. Dobryanskaya noted that of the data documented by ZMINA, most of the missing Ukrainians were recorded in the occupied territories of southern Ukraine:.

119 people abducted in Kherson region;

in the Zaporozhye region - 90.

27 enforced disappearances are known in the occupied territories of Kharkiv region.

“At the same time, there is little information from the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions due to active hostilities and communication problems.. Therefore, our calculations include 45 enforced disappearances in the Donetsk region and 2 cases in the Luhansk region, although it is clear that due to the lack of information from the occupied Mariupol, these figures could be much higher,” Dobryanskaya added..

In addition, according to human rights activists, the Russian Federation often kidnaps relatives of the Ukrainian military, veterans, representatives of law enforcement agencies, local businessmen and other people.. In particular, during 2014-2021, the KrymSOS organization recorded 44 cases of enforced disappearances in the occupied Crimea, 15 of them are people whose fate and whereabouts are still unknown.

The head of the board of KrymSOS, Aleksey Tilnenko, noted that the organization’s hotline on issues of captives and enforced disappearances has received more than 1,000 calls to date..

According to the coordinator of the Media Initiative for Human Rights Tatiana Katrichenko, Russia is holding Ukrainians in the occupied Crimea, in the pre-trial detention center of the Bryansk, Belgorod, Kursk, Rostov, Ryazan regions. At the same time, the enemy often keeps civilians along with military personnel and even in the same cells.. Also, many Ukrainians are kept in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine..

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Katrichenko explained that the invaders kidnap Ukrainians for several reasons:.

due to indiscriminate detentions, when in February-March the Russian Federation in northern Ukraine tried to replenish its “exchange fund” as much as possible;

to encourage cooperation;

due to the active position of citizens and communication with representatives of the Armed Forces of Ukraine;

to test for loyalty to the occupying authorities and "

In turn, the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada for Human Rights Dmitry Lubinets noted that after February 24, 2022, 303 cases of enforced disappearances were recorded in the Kherson region alone.. Of these, 121 people were released, 1 person was killed, and the fate of another 181 people remains unknown..

“It is impossible to calculate the exact number of such cases in Ukraine yet.. Since the full-scale invasion, the practice of enforced disappearance has become one of the widespread methods of intimidating citizens in the newly occupied territories.. Enforced disappearances have become a hallmark of Russian policy in Chechnya, since 1999, between three and five thousand people have become victims.. This is what the Russian Federation has been practicing for all 8 years on the territory of the occupied Donetsk and Lugansk regions, as well as on the Crimean peninsula,” Lubinets said..

Maria Kvitsinskaya, regional consultant for Europe and Central Asia of the World Organization against Torture, explained the difference between enforced disappearance and disappearance without a trace: “When we talk about enforced disappearances, we are talking about cases where there is evidence or good reason to believe that a person was abducted by Russian soldiers and. Such disappearances constitute one of the most serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law and can be considered a crime against humanity.”.

She advised the families of missing Ukrainians to contact the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances. In cases where a person has been abducted because of their human rights, journalistic or volunteering activities, cases should be filed with the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders. These structures should apply to Russia with a corresponding request. Third Rapid Mechanism - International Committee of the Red Cross.

“All three mechanisms can and should be used simultaneously. In the longer term, such cases should be submitted to the International Criminal Court and the UN Committees,” added the representative of the ICLO.

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Earlier it was reported that in the occupied Energodar, the Russians began to kidnap teachers. According to mayor Dmitry Orlov, terror in the city temporarily occupied by Russian troops not only does not stop, but also takes on new forms..