Without the right to return

The volunteers are expelled from the "DPR" and continue to arrest objectionable reasons without explanation

The authorities of the self -proclaimed "Donetsk People’s Republic" expelled from Donetsk "without the right to return" members of the volunteer organization "responsible citizens" Enrique Menendes, the brothers Dmitry and Evgeny Shibalovs, as well as Olga Mosse. Previously, the so -called "Ministry of State Security of the DPR" arrested another volunteer of this organization, Marina Cherenkova. It was through Cherenkov that the DPR authorities called other volunteers for a conversation in the MGB, after which they interrogated for 7 hours and at night they escorted to the nearest checkpoint on the border with the territory controlled by Kyiv. Menendes and his comrades were guilty of cooperation with international humanitarian organizations, in particular, “doctors without borders”, whose activities were recognized as “undesirable” last year. In addition to Marina Cherenkova, the separatists, the religious scholars, Igor Kozlovsky, could be captured by the separatists - he could be detained as part of the campaign to combat the objectionable authorities of the “DPR” church faiths, for example, the Ukrainian Greekatolic Church.

The volunteer group "Responsible Citizens" collaborated in Donetsk both with international organizations, such as "doctors without borders" and with the Ukrainian charitable foundation of oligarch Rinat Akhmetov . The organization’s office in Donetsk is now sealed, part of the property is confiscated. In the morning, on Wednesday, Radio Liberty contacted Enrique Menendes, who talked about how the expulsion of volunteers from Donetsk took place - according to him, it all started with a call of the previously detained Marina Cherenkova:

- She called in the morning, until 12 hours, to another volunteer of our group Evgeny Shibalov , saying that we, calling us so who exactly, we need to approach the MGB building to meet her. We went to the MGB building to meet with it, where we spent the next 7 hours, where we were interviewed about the activities of our organization. We were treated extremely politely and correctly, but at the end of the survey, when we have long filled all our testimonies on paper, we were given a sheet of paper and said: write, "I, such and such, are notified by order of the acting Minister of State Security of the Donetsk People’s Republic of my expulsion from the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic without entry right." Number, signature. After that, we were given 15 minutes for training and calling home for their things, they were given the escort, brought to the "zero", that is, the DPR checkpoint closest to the front line. We were allowed to leave in our car, although it was originally planned that we would be planted at all, left [go] on foot at night, when the checkpoints were already closed, but we were given the opportunity to pick up one of our cars and sent to the other side.

Former Building of the SBU of Ukraine in Donetsk, and now - "MGB DPR", photo of the spring of 2014

“They explained to you what you are accused of, why are you sent?”

- Officially, there were no charges. We have not seen documents that show what the official wording looks like. The only thing the conversation was about was that we did not have a formal registration in the Donetsk People’s Republic, although this is explainable, because this procedure has not yet been rebuilt. And the second, this is probably the main thing: we are accused of cooperation with international organizations that are undesirable in the territory of the "DPR".

- What are these organizations?

-“Doctors without borders”, Save the Children, we were accused of collecting some data for these organizations, which is often used in working with not quite pleasant, accusations of espionage.

Marina Cherenkova

- Your volunteer Marina Cherenkova remains in Donetsk?

- She remains in Donetsk, she remains in the MGB, today her mother and one of our volunteers, who was allowed to stay in Donetsk, took her the first gear. We were not allowed to see her, but they assured us that everything is in order with her, that we could not worry, that she is in normal condition, that she has no special needs.

- You in Donetsk had to leave a lot of already collected humanitarian aid, and cars, and other material values. Is there someone to look after this, so that later, already from Kyiv, try to continue work? Or will all this will now be expropriated and nationalized?

- We have an office, it is fully provided with equipment, 19 people worked there recently, it was sealed yesterday, the employees allowed only personal belongings and dismissed their homes. Of the 6 of our cars, which were in the ranks, 4 were taken to a penalty area, that is, they were arrested. Today, as we were told, a decision will be made on further actions in relation to our organization, whether a search will be carried out there, the seizure of documents. At the moment, all the material values that we had, we have no access to them. It remains only to rely on the formal procedure and that we will be able to somehow resolve this situation.

- You were accused of working with “doctors without borders” and other international organizations, and in Kiev, judging by the comments on the Internet, you will probably be remembered by cooperation with the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation,your calls to people return to Donetsk . Are you ready for this?

- Of course, ready. When people chose in the war ... When the whole society was wound up and people perceive the world exclusively black and white, of course, from the very beginning we were ready to blame us for not having chosen the side for which we are fighting. Of course, we will be accused and invent these accusations. These accusations sound ridiculous, but you can understand people who are in a state of constant emotional stress in connection with everything that happens. We are ready for this, we consider these accusations stupid and ridiculous. Probably, for some time before people finally realize that the principles of humanism are universal, that the principles of mutual respect are also universal, that sooner or later it will be necessary, that the dialogue is absolutely inevitable, that there is no power resolution of the conflict. We really hope that people will still come to this and show respect. And the radicals on both sides are God the judge, ”says Enrique Menendes .

Indeed, in Kiev, Enrique Menendes, who was sent from the “DPR”, will have to face critics who condemn him for a condescending attitude towards the authorities of an unrecognized republic and calls to Ukrainians to return to Donetsk. Even and the arrest of Marina Cherenkova in the Ukrainian segment of social networks unfolded an acute discussion about whether such calls are ethical, after the detention of Cherenkova and the expulsion of Menendes himself, the number of comments of varying degrees of gloating to the "responsible citizens" has only grown. There was a place for conspiracy the versions that the expulsion of Enrique Menendes was a setting, designed to “introduce” a volunteer loyal to the separatists into the Ukrainian media and public space.

Another arrested "MGB DPR" resident of Donetsk is Igor Kozlovsky , a religious scientist , professor, former dean of the faculty of religious studies of the Donetsk Institute of Artificial Intelligence, associate professor of the Donetsk Technical University. He, like Enrique Menendes, did not leave the city for a day from the very beginning of the conflict in the east of Ukraine - he looked after his seriously ill son, chained to a wheelchair. Igor Kozlovsky, in addition to classes of scientific activity, was one of the active supporters of peaceful coexistence in Ukraine of parishioners of various churches. Is it an accident or not, but two days after his arrest, the DPR authorities organized a rally near the building of one of the last parishes of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, accusing her parishioners of “sectarianism” and “work on the CIA”.

The consequences of trying to undermine the monument to Lenin in Donetsk

In Ukrainian social networks, the version is widespread that the arrest of Igor Kozlovsky, Marina Cherenkova and the expulsion of Enrique Menendes - the revenge of the separatists for trying to undermine the monument to Lenin, which occurred on the night of January 27 (a week before, unknown people drew the Ukrainian flag on the pedestal). This is confirmed by a source in the "Coastal structures of the DPR", the words of which are quoted by the Russian publication "Gazeta.ru". Another version states that new repressions are caused by the irritation of separatists due to the refusal of Ukraine to go to the conditions they proposed for the implementation of the Minsk peace agreements. Russian political scientist Valery Solovoia wrote on Facebook that according to him, Kozlovsky is accused of creating an armed gang that engaged in robberies and murders ":

However, while the relatives of Igor Kozlovsky still cannot achieve from the authorities of the republic not only explanations of the reasons for his detention, but also confirming the very fact of the arrest. "MGB DPR" behaves paradoxically: at the same time accepts Kozlovsky’s wife and a search for his search, and transfer with things, says the scientist Denis Kozlovsky, living in Kiev, says the nephew of a scientist:

- The connection with him disappeared on January 27 in the evening. They called me somewhere between 7 and 8 pm and said that they saw how they have a search in his apartment. At this point, he had not responded to the phone. At the moment, there is a fact that the MGB accepted a statement about the loss from his wife and from her yesterday they accepted the program for him. That is, she was not issued any official documents or confirmations, but they accepted the application and accepted the transfer. This probably indirectly confirms that he is there.

-January 27 is the day when unknown people in Donetsk tried to undermine the monument to Lenin, which, however, ended with some kind of symbolic damage to the pedestal of the monument.

-They tried to undermine the monument a little earlier, on the night of the 27th.

- You consider this as one of the versions, why did a new wave of arrests, under which your uncle, began in Donetsk?

- It is difficult for me to link these two events among themselves, because my uncle never led any political activity. In his ideas, nothing sounded that could even indirectly be connected with some violent actions. He is by his nature very kind. He always directed all his activities to the construction of tolerant relations between representatives of all faiths. This was one of his missions and during his work in the regional administration as the head of the religion department, from 1980 to 2001, there was still an interfaith center, there, in general, he had several organizations, whose activities were aimed at ensuring some kind of denominations of some kind of dialogue that they would coexist, develop, and so that no one could be bad from it. Therefore, I can’t imagine that his arrest and attempt to undermine the monument to Lenin were somehow connected.

-Almost all pro-Ukrainian people from Donetsk had long left, and when it took someone to detain someone in the case of the demolition of the monument, they already took up neutral, for those who could at least somehow be sprayed to this matter, so reached your uncle.

- Apparently ... I adhere to only facts, so I can confirm or refute only the facts that are.

- What other authorities did the relatives of Igor Kozlovsky contacted, except for the "MGB DPR"?

- When his wife arrived, she immediately went to the police to write a statement, she will write official statements, complaints, everything that can be written in all instances. A lawyer who has the opportunity to work in Donetsk will work. We contacted all international organizations that work in the region: with the UN, with the Red Cross, with the OSCE, they are all in the know and somehow deal with this issue in their own way.

- Why didn't your uncle leave Donetsk?

- The main reason is that he has a paralyzed son there, he is poorly transportable, seriously ill, he can be transported only on a reanimobile, this is associated with very great difficulties and the risk to his health and life.

- You yourself lived in Donetsk before the war? Thought about returning?

- No, I left Donetsk in 2003, this was due to the work proposal. By the time of these events, I have not lived there a long time ago. But I just at the time when all these events began, I visited many times there because I worked as a “fixer” with several foreign television channels: CNN, al-Jazira, CBC, The Times magazine. The last time I was in Donetsk on the day when the airport was captured in May 2014. I didn’t come there anymore.

-There was simply no desire or did you feel some danger?

- Judging by what happened there, first of all, there was no desire. Danger ... If I were involved in some activity, maybe I would have felt danger. And it just did not make sense to go there.

- Judging by the history of your uncle, you do not need to be "involved" in any activity to get under this rink.

- Yes, it turns out that so.

Kozlovsky’s colleagues in the scientific community, in particular, on the “Coordinating Council of the CIS countries and the Baltic Council for Theoretical and Practical Religious Sciences”, are also the alarm. According to the doctor of philosophical sciences, professor of the Academy of Labor and Social Relations of Ekaterina Elbakeyan , for the release of Igor Kozlovsky from the captivity of the MGB DPR, scientists wrote a collective letter that will be sent to everyone who can somehow affect his fate:

- We compiled a letter from the coordination council, and at my own peril and risk I introduced the words that it was compiled "from the religious community of Russia." You know, I was not mistaken. I sent him to the addresses that were in my e -book, and the response was very alive, even those people from whom I did not expect this were signed by the letter - those with whom you intersect once in my life, write down their address and that's it. From different cities, from different regions of Russia even. They began to write and ask me to put their surnames and names in support of Igor Kozlovsky. Of course, I was shocked by the tragedy of this man, I know that he has a son-a wheelchair user, Igor Anatolyevich was very selflessly looking after his child. He is not even a child already, he is an adult, as colleagues told me, he lived with such a diagnosis before such an age precisely due to this care. This is the tragedy of a person who could not commit what he was charged with, shocked everyone, and, of course, the community of religious scientists acts in his support and asks those on whom the fate of Igor Anatolyevich depends that they make a humane decision against him.

- You say "what he is accused of" - is it already known?

- I understand that he was accused of blowing a monument to Lenin in Donetsk. This is such a delusional assumption to blame the professor, intellectual of the terrorism ... This is so wild that it seems to me that it is even physically impossible!

After the arrest of the religious scholar, Igor Kozlovsky, the authorities of the unrecognized republic decided to continue to play the topic of "an external enemy hiding behind the mask of religion."

On January 29, the DPR authorities organized a rally of about one of the Donetsk temples of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. Her parishioners, who were left in Donetsk, were accused of "sectarianism" and "work on the CIA." According to the Ukrainian Radio Liberty Service, the action organized the young republic controlled by the separatists. The rally was positioned as “spontaneous”, but the head of the “young republic” Sergey Kondrykinsky announced him another day, on January 28. “Orthodox faith and in general any other normal faith is primarily the unification of people. And those slogans that now voiced sects are calls for undermining the“ Donetsk People’s Republic ”from the inside. And we perfectly understand that these are the goals that they set for themselves,” Kondrykinsky said to journalists.

The participants were brought to the rally by buses, the posters were also distributed centrally, the priest Vasily Pantelk told Radio Liberty. He worked with Grecokatoliki in Donetsk for 22 years. He left the city only in August 2014. When I learned about the rally, I contacted people who were at that moment at the place of events. Pantelk is surprised at the accusations of "sectarianism" and "work on the CIA": according to him, throughout his time his work in Donetsk, he had excellent relations with both the inhabitants of the city and the authorities. According to Pantelik, now in Donetsk three Greekatolic priests serve with the permission of the separatists. However, they do not allow themselves to be agitation or political statements:

"In addition to the priests carry the word of God, they do not engage in any political activity. No except charity. We wanted to register the Karitas humanitarian mission there to help tens of thousands of people. To feed people, we wanted to open the dining room there and feed up to two hundred people every day."

Greekatolic Temple in Donetsk

According to the official representative of the Ukrainian Greekatolic Church, priest Igor Yatsiv , after the intensification of hostilities in the Donbass in 2014, the church priests were ordered to leave the territories controlled by the separatists due to the inability to guarantee their security. Однако, несмотря на риск, многие из них остались, правда, предварительно эвакуировав свои семьи на подконтрольную украинским властям территорию. После этого, отмечает Яцив, наступило относительное затишье: особых притеснений грекокатолические священники в Донбассе не испытывали, хотя количество функционирующих приходов церкви значительно сократилось. Сейчас, отмечает он, действительно началась новая волна гонений на неугодные властям "ДНР" конфессии, однако связывать эту волну с попыткой подрыва памятника Ленину или проблемами с выполнением Минских соглашений Игорь Яцив в комментарии украинской службе Радио Свобода не стал. "Началась новая волна нагнетания неприятия Украинской грекокатолической церкви в медийном пространстве, в частности, в Российской Федерации. Наш мониторинг показал несколько публикаций, где осуждают УГКЦ за то или другое. Пошла такая волна. И наверняка события в Донецке – это часть одной большой технологии, назовем ее информационной, против нашей церкви".

По данным украинской правозащитницы, руководителя Центра гражданских свобод Александры Матвейчук , каждый второй из арестованных "Министерствами государственной безопасности" "ДНР" и "ЛНР", не считая военнопленных, подвергался пыткам. О пытках после задержания рассказывал и украинский кинорежиссер Олег Сенцов, которого арестовали в Крыму и осудили в России на 20 лет тюрьмы по обвинению в террористической деятельности. "Попасть в подвалы и быть подвергнутым жестокому обращению, пыткам и внесудебным казням можно только за то, что в свое время ты был участником проукраинских митингов, что когда-то ты что-то сказал, а соседи позвонили на горячую линию и донесли. Это террор, с помощью которого незаконные вооруженные формирования пытаются удержать контроль над этой частью территории", – говорит Матвейчук.