A protest participant from Krasnodar spoke about his arrest on the border with Ukraine

Krasnodar activist, participant in several protests, Sergei Batanov, told OVD-Info about being detained at the border with Ukraine while trying to leave Russia.

According to Batanov, he was detained by Russian border guards at the Nekhoteevka checkpoint (Belgorod Region). The reason for this was the US flag and the chevrons of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), which were found at Batanov during the search.

The activist explained in a conversation with OVD-Info that he bought the chevrons as a souvenir back in 2018, and the US flag was a prop for playing airsoft (Batanov is participating in the game dressed as an American soldier).

“They made me just turn out my whole bag, get everything that was there. They tore all my things and threw them away. All my documents that I was carrying with me were confiscated from me, including my two phones. After that, they forced me to unlock my phones with threats, ”Batanov said.

During the inspection, according to the activist, the security forces forced him to strip naked, while they filmed what was happening on camera.

The FSB officers who arrived, according to the detainee, studied his social networks without his permission and sent messages on his behalf to other people, including his mother.

Batanov stressed that all the time since the moment of detention, the security forces did not give him food and water, and also did not take him to the toilet. At the same time, he was interrogated several times, forcing him to “give out drugs”.

As a result, the security forces confiscated two phones, SIM cards, the US flag and the chevrons of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Batanov, after which they released him, having kept him in the department for about 17 hours. The security forces did not allow Batanov to cross the border, but he was not given the reason for such a ban.

• In June 2020, Sergei Batanov spoke about threats from the police. According to him, employees of the Center for Combating Extremism (CPE) came to him in the special detention center and "threatened out" information about the picketer's trip to Ukraine.
• arrest in June 2020 Batanov served his due to the announcement of a single picket near the building of the regional department of the FSB. The court considered him the organizer of an uncoordinated event and found him guilty under the article on organizing an action without filing a notification (part 2 of article 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses).
• In February 2019, Sergei Batanov was fined 3,000 rubles under an article on violation of the regional law on advertising (Part 1, Article 3.2 of the Law of the Krasnodar Territory “On Administrative Offenses”). The activist put up leaflets with the image of President Vladimir Putin and information about price increases. After being detained because of leaflets, he was threatened with initiation of a criminal case on extremism.