FSB detains pro-Ukrainian activist in Crimea, searches her apartment

July 18, the officers of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) detained pro-Ukrainian activist Larysa Kytayska in the town of Yalta, Crimea.

Crimean Human Rights Group posted this on Facebook.

“According to the CHRG monitors, the FSB officers detained in Yalta Larysa Kytayska, the resident of Crimea and pro-Ukrainian activist. She has been taken home to conduct a search. Her daughter informed that the FSB accuses Larysa of separatism,” the message reads.

“My mom is 52 years old. She is an entrepreneur. She lives in Ukraine, sometimes travels to Yalta on business. When she was detained, my mother had been in Yalta for about two weeks already. Her friend told me my mother had been detained,” daughter of the detainee, Ksenia Kytayska told 15 Minutes local newspaper.

Ksenia told she had still managed to reach her mother by phone.

“Mom was at first taken to some agency, then she was transferred to her apartment, we have a two-bedroom apartment in Yalta, to conduct a search. They demanded her laptop. Mom gave them the laptop. They said they needed another one. They accused her of extremism and threatened they would take away an apartment. Mom was so excited, her blood pressure rose, so they called an ambulance. When she was in an ambulance, I called her. I said a few words to her, then the phone was picked by a stranger who said he did not hear me and the phone was put down,” Ksenia said.

The daughter of the detainee cannot even assume what was the reason for the detention.

Meanwhile, the harassment of pro-Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar activists has become a common practice in Crimea after it was annexed by Russia. This has been repeatedly stated by the human rights defenders. They call on the Kremlin to stop the violation of human rights. However, Moscow and Russian de facto authorities in Crimea deny the fact of reprisals.