Russia's FSB in Crimea develops new method to persecute Ukrainians – human rights activist

In temporarily occupied Crimea, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), in collaboration with fraudsters, has devised a new tactic to target Ukrainian citizens by falsely accusing them of financing extremist activities.

The Crimean Tatar Resource Center reported this on Facebook, according to Ukrinform.

"Verified sources have recently informed the head of the board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, a member of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Eskender Bariev, about another tool that involves monitoring financial transactions and using suspicions of 'extremist' activity as grounds for detentions," the post said.

It added that this involves accusing people of allegedly financing extremist activities.

"They call people, pretending to be employees of Rosfinmonitoring, and accuse them of illegally transferring funds to a third party suspected of extremist activity. And, as you might expect, all the trails lead to Ukraine, with claims that the extremists requiring financial support are also from Ukraine," Bariev said.

According to him, these actions are often accompanied by charges under Russian laws related to terrorism and extremism. At the same time, the state disregards the right to legal defense for the accused, enabling the creation of legal precedents for politically motivated purposes.

"When I first heard about this, I thought the FSB was simply trying to intimidate someone, searching for a new target. However, as I began gathering information, it became clear that these cases are not isolated. They are part of a recurring pattern of fraudulent schemes. In a country where everyone is under surveillance, and 'terrorists' and 'extremists' are supposedly found at every turn, a group of scammers in uniform operates openly," Bariev said.