Deputy Defence Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic Eduard Basurin said that the Ukrainian military service has been trying to recruit Dontesk military officers and their families using “telephone intimidation and offers of cooperation,” speaking a press conference in Donetsk, Friday.
SOT, Eduard Basurin, Deputy Defence Minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (Russian): “Their relatives are not at the territory of the republic, but on the mainland of Ukraine. And the pressure on both relatives and our servicemen increased in telephone intimidation and offers of co-operation with the Ukrainian security bodies, in order to save the lives of relatives.”
SOT, Igor Grigoriev, Senior Lieutenant (Russian): “A month and a half ago, I heard the first call from my daughter, whom I do not speak with very much, because I promised her as early as 2014 that I would not call her, so as not to put her life in danger. She phoned me in tears, she tells me – Dad, I am being pursued by the security service of Ukraine, they want to contact you, for what purpose, for which – I do not know. Of course, I refused, I said that I do not have to, I will not contact anyone and even then I suggested – publicly refuse to be my daughter. Then three or four days later, there was another call. My daughter again called in tears – dad, contact them, I will give you a phone number. Contact them necessarily, because they persecute me, they call me to the office, interrogate, question.”
SOT, Igor Grigoriev, Senior Lieutenant (Russian): “He asked me to buy a new phone, a new SIM card, gave his phone number and I had to contact him on this number. As much as I understand perfectly, that this is so that I would work for them, give some information to them. Of course, I made him understand that I need to think, I need to make some decision. In the future, I do not want to talk with these people, I do not have anything to talk about, I am just worried about the life of my daughter, for the life of my grandson.”
SOT, Oleg Boyko, Sergeant (Russian): “Since 2015, my family is being psychologically pushed. They are trying to put pressure on the family, threatening with prison terms for the fact that I am a defender of the Donetsk region, the Donetsk People’s Republic, trying to push. The last time there was a phone call from the security service of Ukraine. Despite the fact that they come home to press on my mother, my wife – my mother is of 1961, my wife was born in 1989. They are pressed without ending, so that they affect me so that I begin to cooperate with the security service of Ukraine.”
SOT, Oleg Boyko, Sergeant (Russian): “They began to threaten that they can start criminal cases, my wife and mother may be missing, and they will not be able to influence this in any way. I had no choice but to turn to our internal security service.”