Original Material
Mother of 7 arrested for treason
Police have arrested a woman living in Smolensk on suspicion of treason, after she reported to the Ukrainian embassy a local soldier’s conversation allegedly about Russian troop deployments to Donetsk.
Svetlana Davydova, a mother of seven children, was arrested on January 21, and later transferred to a pretrial detention center in Moscow.
According to police, Davydova noticed in April 2014 that personnel stationed at a nearby military intelligence installation were suddenly leaving. According to Davydova’s husband, she overheard aboard a bus one of the soldiers from this unit saying he and his team were “being transferred to Moscow in small groups, always out of uniform, where they get their deployment orders.” After deciding that the soldier was describing Russian troop deployments to Donetsk, she called the Ukrainian embassy to report it.
“Sveta is opposed to this war, but I wouldn’t say we’re some kind of oppositionists or active participants in the anti-war rallies. She used to be active in Russia’s [Post-Soviet] Communist Party, but then she left to go raise our kids. I have no idea how the FSB [Russia’s Federal Security Service] learned about any of this,” Davydova’s husband said.
- The 82nd radio-engineering brigade of Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate is located east of Smolensk, at military installation 48886.
- Kiev has repeatedly accused Russia of deploying troops to Ukraine. Officially, Moscow has denied these accusations. Spokesmen for the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk say Russian soldiers are fighting with the separatists against Ukraine, but only while on leave from service in Russia.