Ukrainian woman detained in Russia is safe, but was unable to take her godson with her

The Ukrainian woman whose interrogation video was shown by the Russian media outlet RIA Novosti is now safe and no longer in Russia. 

Source: The Save Ukraine Foundation in a comment to the BBC Russian Service 

Details: Kremlin propagandists released a video of the interrogation of a woman whom they referred to as an employee of the Save Ukraine Foundation, reporting that "a Ukrainian citizen had been detained". 

The foundation told the BBC that she was the godmother of a boy and had tried to take him and his brother out of the Russian-occupied part of Kherson Oblast with her. 

Olha Yerokhina, press secretary at the Save Ukraine Foundation, says the woman’s detention and interrogation took place more than a week ago, during a trip by the latest group of mothers seeking to collect their children. 

The woman is now safe and no longer in Russia. The foundation does not know why RIA Novosti decided to publish its report on this today, 30 May.

Initially, RIA Novosti reported on the detention of a Ukrainian citizen whom they said was a Save Ukraine employee, and later posted a video of the woman's interrogation. 

In the video, the woman introduces herself as Olha Hurulia and says she wants to arrange guardianship over two minor children in Henichesk, Kherson Oblast, at the request of "a volunteer named Anastasiia". According to her, after registering the guardianship, she was to have taken the children first to Kyiv and then to Germany. 

The foundation reported on Olha Hurulia's detention a few days ago on its website and social media, when FSB officers seized the woman's documents and phone and interrogated her for two days, threatening her with a prison term. 

After that, she was sent to Minsk and released. However, she was unable to take her 17-year-old godson and his brother with her. 

Reminder:

• The Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, has emphasised that no organisation or association can guarantee the safety of Ukrainian citizens on the territory of the Russian Federation. 
• Currently, Ukraine has no diplomatic relations with the terrorist country, and consular services cannot be accessed by Ukrainian citizens there. And it will be difficult for the state to assist Ukrainians who turn to non-governmental agencies for help, the ombudsman said.

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