Ministry of Foreign Affairs demands to release Ukrainian human rights defenders detained at the administrative border with Crimea

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine demands the release of Olga Skrypnyk and Volodymyr Chekrygin, the Ukrainian representatives of the Crimean Human Rights Group, whom the FSB has detained today on the administrative border with the Crimea.

As reported by Mariana Betsa, the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, on her Twitter page, the pressure on human rights defenders is unacceptable.

“Russia continues to violate human rights. Pressuring human rights defenders is unacceptable. We demand the release of Ukrainian citizens”, – said the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

As a reminder, on the afternoon of March, a group of human rights defenders Olga Skrypnyk and Volodymyr Chekrygin, as well as representative of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights were detained at the Kalanchak checkpoint at the administrative border with Crimea and mainland Ukraine.

According to human rights defender Irina Sedova, as of 15:00 there is no contact with the detained human rights defenders. She is convinced that Olga Skrypnyk and Volodymyr Chekrygin and yet unnamed representative of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights were kidnapped by representatives of the FSB.

“They had no intention to cross the border with Crimea. They were non-publicly monitoring the work of Ukrainian customs officers. That was the purpose of our monitoring. Therefore, it can only be a kidnapping. Absolutely. They were not going at the Russian side of the border. They had no such plans and intentions. And they were not going to do so”, – she said in the broadcast of Hromadske Radio.