Ukraine at OSCE calls on Russia to release serviceman abducted near Crimea

“The number of Ukrainian citizens illegally detained by the Russian side grows further. On 30 May, Ukrainian serviceman went missing close to the administrative boundary line between mainland Ukraine and occupied Crimea. As it became clear later, he was abducted by the Russian special service, which charged him with so-called “violation of the state border”. We demand the Russian side to immediately release him,” Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk, Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna, said at the OSCE Permanent Council meeting on June 11, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

As reported, Ukrainian serviceman of the 95th Air Assault Brigade, Yevhen Dobrynsky, disappeared at the administrative border of Russian-annexed Crimea with Kherson region near Chonhar on May 30. Search activities did not yield any results. According to preliminary information published by the military law enforcement service at the Armed Forces of Ukraine, traces of the fight against unknown persons were found near the surveillance post, so it is believed that the serviceman was abducted during his service.

A few days later, the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) stated that the Ukrainian serviceman had been detained and a criminal case had been opened against him over "illegal crossing of the Russian border." On June 3, a court in the occupied Crimea arrested Dobrynsky for one month, until July 1.

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