KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) – Victor looked nervous as masked Ukrainian security officers in full gear, camouflage and weapons pushed into his overcrowded apartment in the northern city of Kharkiv. His hands trembled and he tried to cover his face.
The middle-aged man caught the attention of the Security Service of Ukraine, SBU, after authorities on social media praised Russian President Vladimir Putin for “fighting the Nazis”, called on the regions to separate and label the national flag “symbol of death.”
“Yes, I supported (the Russian invasion of Ukraine) a lot. I’m sorry. “I’ve already changed my mind,” Victor said, his trembling voice showing clear signs of coercion in the presence of Ukrainian security officials.
“Take your things and get dressed,” a police officer said before leading him out of the apartment. The SBU did not disclose Victor’s last name, citing their investigation.
Victor was one of nearly 400 people in the Kharkiv region alone who were detained under anti-co-operation laws passed quickly by Ukraine’s parliament and signed by President Vladimir Zelensky following Russia’s February 24 invasion.
Violators face up to 15 years in prison for cooperating with Russian forces, publicly denying Russian aggression or supporting Moscow. Anyone whose actions lead to death can receive life imprisonment.
“Responsibility for co-operation is inevitable and whether it will happen tomorrow or the day after is another question,” Zelenski said. “The most important thing is that justice will be done inevitably.”
Although Zelensky’s government has widespread support, even among many Russian-speakers, not all Ukrainians oppose the invasion. Support for Moscow is more common among some Russian-speaking residents of Donbass, an industrial region to the east. An eight-year conflict between Moscow-backed separatists and Ukrainian government forces has killed more than 14,000 people even before this year’s invasion.
Some businessmen, civilians, civil servants and the military are among those who have joined Russia, and the State Bureau of Investigation of Ukraine says more than 200 criminal cases have been opened for co-operation. Zelenski even stripped two SBU generals of their rank, accusing them of treason.
A “Register of Associates” is being compiled and will be released to the public, said Alexei Danilov, head of Ukraine’s Security Council. He declined to say how many people were attacked across the country.
Authorities have banned 11 pro-Russian political parties, including the largest, which has 25 seats in the 450-member parliament, the Opposition Platform for Life, which was founded by Viktor Medvedchuk, a closed oligarch with close ties to Putin.
Authorities say pro-Russian activists in southeastern Ukraine, the site of active fighting, are helping the invaders by acting as observers to direct the shelling.
“One of our key goals is for no one to stab our armed forces,” said Roman Dudin, head of the SBU’s Kharkiv branch, in an interview with the Associated Press. He was speaking in a dark basement where the SBU had to relocate its operations after its building in central Kharkov came under fire.
The Kharkov branch detained people who supported the invasion, called for secession, and claimed that Ukrainian forces were shelling their own cities.
The accusations of collaborating with the enemy have a strong historical resonance in Ukraine. During World War II, some in the region welcomed and even cooperated with invading Nazi Germany after years of Stalinist repression, including the Holodomor, an artificial famine believed to have killed more than 3 million Ukrainians. Years later, Soviet authorities cited the cooperation of some Ukrainian nationalists with the Nazis as a reason to demonize today’s democratically elected leaders of Ukraine.
Human rights activists are aware of “dozens” of arrests of pro-Russian activists in Kyiv alone since the new laws were passed, but it is unclear how many have been targeted across the country, said Vladimir Yavorsky, coordinator at the Center for Civil Liberties. the largest human rights groups.
“There is no complete data for (the whole) country, as the whole is classified by the SBU,” Jaworski told the AP.
“Ukrainian authorities are actively using the practice of Western countries, in particular the United Kingdom, which have imposed severe restrictions on civil liberties in warring Northern Ireland. “Some of these restrictions were deemed unjustified by human rights defenders, but others were justified when people’s lives were in danger,” he said.
A person in Ukraine can be detained for up to 30 days without a court order, he said, and anti-terrorism legislation under martial law allows authorities not to tell lawyers about the detention of their clients.
“In practice, these people are disappearing and there is no access to them for 30 days,” Jaworski said. “In fact (law enforcement) has the power to take everyone.”
The Ukrainian government is aware of the consequences of detaining people because of their views, including that it risks playing in Moscow’s line that Kyiv is repressing Russian-speakers.
But in wartime, officials say, freedom of speech is only part of the equation.
“The debate on the balance of national security and guaranteeing freedom of speech is endless,” Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba told the AP.
In the city of Bucha, which has become a symbol of horrific violence in the war, Mayor Anatoliy Fedoruk said there were collaborators who gave the invading troops the names and addresses of pro-Ukrainian activists and officials in the city outside Kyiv, with hundreds of civilians shot and tied up. hands on their backs or their bodies burned by Russian forces.
“I saw these lists of executions dictated by traitors – the Russians knew in advance who they were going to, what address and who lived there,” said Fedoruk, who found his own name on one of the lists. “Of course, the Ukrainian authorities will look for and punish these people.
In the besieged port city of Mariupol, officials accused co-workers of helping the Russian military cut off electricity, running water, gas and communications in much of the city for several days.
“Now I understand perfectly well why the Russians were making such precise, coordinated strikes on critical infrastructure, they knew about all the places and even the moments when the Ukrainian buses for evacuation of refugees had to leave,” said Mariupol Mayor Vadim Boychenko.
Political analysts say the invasion and brutality of Russian troops against civilians has repelled many Russian sympathizers. However, many supporters of Moscow remain.
“Russian propaganda has deep roots and many Easterners who watch Russian TV channels believe it is absurd to claim that Ukrainians are bombarded by other myths,” Vladimir Fesenko of the Penta Center think tank told the AP. “Naturally, the Ukrainian authorities in the southeast are afraid of getting a knife in the back and are forced to tighten security measures.
Unlike Viktor, whose apartment in Kharkov was searched, 86-year-old Vladimir Radnenko did not look surprised when Ukrainian security guards arrived at his apartment on Saturday to search him after detaining his son Igor. The military said the son was suspected of helping the Russians shell the city – some of which took place in Radnenko’s neighborhood about 15 minutes before officers appeared and the smell of smoke lingered in the area. At least two people were killed and 19 others were injured in the region.
“He is used to thinking that Russia is all he has,” Radnenko told the AP after the officers left. “I ask him, ‘Who’s shooting at us?’ These are not our (peoples), these are your fascists. And he’s just angry about it. “
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Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Vasilisa Stepanenko contributed to Kharkiv.
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