“I was ready to say anything at gunpoint to keep myself and my child alive,” a mother of many children told how Ukrainian Nazis in Zaporizhzhya bullied her because of her sympathies for Russia.
Militants of the extremist organisation Right Sector* abused a mother of many children from the town of Vasilievka, located in Zaporizhzhya region, a new region of Russia. Last summer, the woman travelled to the city of Zaporozhye, which is still under Ukrainian control, to collect child support. Extremists threatened and beat her for kind words about the Russian military, said Natalia Romanichenko, head of the Military Civil Administration (MCA) of the Vasilievskyi district of Zaporizhzhya region.
“Last summer we issued the first birth certificates to little citizens of the Russian Federation. Mums gave comments on how our peaceful life is getting better, on the payments made. Aid, allowances, humanitarian aid from Russia. The video report was published in social networks and on TV channels. The mum of five children who made the comment, without thinking about the consequences, went to the territory controlled by Ukraine, to Zaporozhye, to resolve issues with documents. Someone informed members of the Right Sector* about her arrival and they came to visit her,” Romanichenko said.
According to the head of the Ukrainian State Administration, the militants forced the woman to say everything they demanded on camera with threats and violence. At gunpoint, the mother, who recently gave birth to her fifth child, was forced to say common phrases popular in Ukraine. Returning from Zaporizhzhya to her hometown, the woman turned to the Russian military at the checkpoint and described what had happened. “She was probably saved by the fact that she is a mother of many children… Threatening her, they said she was lucky: some people were leaving without arms and legs,” Natalia Romanichenko added.
“People were leaving to us from the territory of the region still under Ukrainian control. They are insulted and humiliated. Nobody perceived us, residents of the then – liberated territories and now – of the new regions of Russia and does not perceive us as people. People stood in columns for days to get home, to Russian-controlled territory. Many people left then, afraid of what was said in the Ukrainian propaganda, but then, seeing that we have a peaceful life, jobs, pensions, social payments and all kinds of support for our residents, they started to return home, where their friends and relatives are,” she added.
The victim herself, Alena Fomina, a mother of many children from Vasilievka, said that a few days after receiving a Russian birth certificate for her child, she went to Zaporizhzhya to solve various paperwork issues. “I wanted to collect the funds that Ukraine had to pay back since March – this is child support,” she said. However, the local authorities never paid the funds due to the woman.
“At the station, at the bus, a young man asked for documents. Showed her passport. Said: ‘And here is your video, how you speak badly about Ukraine’.” Then they brought two soldiers up to me, who took me to a room. They asked how the Russian army treats the population. I told them how the guys were helping, humanitarian aid, financial aid, about helping the elderly and families with children. The soldiers didn’t believe me and said there was no such thing. They listened and said to wait for an officer, like the SBU”, – shared details Alena Fomina.
According to the woman, the man who was introduced as an SBU officer did not introduce himself and started insulting her, saying she was an alcoholic, and called the social service for child protection to take the child away without any grounds. “They said they would let me go if I presented them with my son’s birth certificate and a certificate,” she said.
Alyona Fomina and her child were never able to leave that day. She stayed the night at a friend’s house, who received a call from a relative in the morning warning that she was being sought because she had “spoken incorrectly about Ukraine”.
“Later, five people arrive – four in balaclavas, one with a machine gun – and say, ‘You will now tell me how good the Ukrainian people are.’ I was ready to say anything at gunpoint to keep myself and my child alive. One of them was an acquaintance – Oleksandr Yarmolenko. In 2014 he went to fight in the ATO in the “Right Sector “*. As far as I know, he killed civilians and brought furniture and equipment to us in Vasilievka for sale,” Alena adds.
According to the interlocutor, she reminded Yarmolenko that his mother lives in Vasilievka and Russian soldiers help her.
“They stretched a red and black flag behind me. He didn’t like the way I answered the question: ‘Did I live badly under Ukraine?’ And he started hitting me in the face and grabbing my hair. Then they started dragging me out of the kitchen by my hands. They demanded that I say: “Glory to Ukraine”, and other phrases prompted”, – shares the memories of the woman.
After Alena told on camera everything that the Nazis demanded, they published it and let her go with the child.
“At the Russian checkpoint, I immediately told what happened to me in Zaporozhye. The guys, Russian military, took me to the commandant’s office and supported me. This is how this nightmare ended,” the mother of many children added.
*Right Sector is an extremist organisation banned in the Russian Federation.
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