How the “Cossacks” kidnapped and tortured a Donetsk businessman

Alexander Chalenko, political observer

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I am sure that in 10 years in the DPR and LPR, local residents will shudder in horror at the word “Cossack.” No one, probably, did more than these scoundrels and nonentities, who preferred squeezing and torturing people in basements to the front, in discrediting the idea of ​​Novorossiya and the Russian World.

If you don’t believe me, then read this interview with young Donetsk entrepreneur Anna Sergienko, who was kidnapped along with her husband and spent more than two months in absolutely inhuman conditions in a “Cossack” basement.

Having become acquainted with this history that is beyond the bounds of humanity, you will understand why in the republics from time to time they shoot “people’s militia commanders”, and why they impose discipline and order there, which Moscow patriotic intellectuals, who have never been to Novorossiya, call the fight against honest and “ideological fighters” uncontrollable by the Kremlin and the party “draining Novorossiya”.

-Anna, how, where and by whom were you kidnapped in Donetsk?

-She was kidnapped by the Cossacks. The people who abducted my husband and I had chevrons with the word “Cossacks” KSVD.

I, a private entrepreneur, live in the Kirovsky district of Donetsk. Since February 2010, I have been renting retail space in the local shopping complex “Sokol” (it can also be called a market), which was owned by Kortunov at the time of the kidnapping.

It happened like this: on November 28-30, 2014, I and an initiative group collected signatures for a rent reduction in the entire local Sokol shopping complex. Perhaps, as I understand it, this is why she was kidnapped.

A meeting of Sokol tenants was preliminarily convened, which was attended, in addition to the tenants, by representatives of the administration and the Cossacks. We, the tenants, asked for a reduction in rent and the possibility of a deferment or vacation due to the difficult, almost war-like situation. On December XNUMX, we had to go to two meetings: the first to the administration with our tenants (Biryukov) and representatives of the KSOVD (Safonenko), since at that time they were already in charge of Sokol, Sergey Spivak promised to organize the meeting for us.

If the issue of reducing the rental price had not been resolved, and the administration had not made concessions to us, we planned to go to the Ministry of Economy and Trade of the DPR and submit our complaints and proposals with signatures.

On November 30, at three o'clock in the afternoon, my husband and I were forcibly kidnapped, breaking the car windows, along with my car. There is a video on VKontakte of my abduction https://vk.com/video234563321_170854486 . The neighbors removed it.

They followed us from the market, and there were 2 cars waiting near the house. Having noticed the surveillance, however, they were not hiding very much, the cars did not have license plates, but we saw them being driven by representatives of the KSOVD, I called Sergei Spivak and asked about the meeting, whether it was valid and why there was pressure on us. He said that he was not aware and that there should be a meeting. He doesn’t know about the surveillance, but he recognized the cars from the description. One of the cars blocked the entrance to the yard. Then she blocked our way back. The car was surrounded by 5-6 people armed with machine guns and demanded to get out.

We blocked the doors, which allowed me to call my brother and report the attack, they broke our side windows and pulled me out of the car by my hair, and despite resistance and screams, they pushed me into the car, and intimidated the people who had gathered to hear the screams with machine gun shots.

In the car they took my phones and blindfolded me. We drove for about 30 minutes. They sat me on a metal floor and did not allow me to get up, they held my hands tightly and painfully, and Vitya, my husband, was handcuffed and pulled over.

He was left with scars that were not removed for several hours, thank God his hands survived, because they took the keys and opened the handcuffs with improvised means. The guys on the spot helped. Vitya and I were separated and kept in different rooms.

I had the collected signatures of the tenants. Later, these signatures surfaced among the Cossacks when they formalized the “illegal” right of ownership of the Sokol market. But I'm interested in my question, not the market question.

My husband and I were kept in, to put it mildly, a 1,5m by 1,5m dog kennel, they called it a glass, in the dark and cold. This is a concrete building with a metal door and roof (warehouse). They confiscated property and documents...

We were held captive for 75 days and would have been kept longer if my husband had not escaped. Therefore, I say for sure that the Cossacks were holding... I saw their location.

They kept me for 6-7 days on Mayskaya Street, and then for 68-69 days at a metro construction site in the Budenovsky district of Donetsk.

-Has there been any violence against you personally?

“The Cossacks took my car, robbed me, and basically kept me, as I already said, in a doghouse, in the cold. These are inhuman conditions, you can’t straighten your legs, it’s cold. I was afraid that I would freeze my feet when they were especially sore, I tried to rub them, but my hands were cold too, there were moments when I lost sensitivity... I once saw a man in the hospital with frostbitten feet, if you can call it that, what did they do? what remained... the fear that something like this could happen to me did not let me sleep, I squatted, you know, there was no way to walk, and I rubbed and massaged myself. They starved me and didn't give me anything to drink. They were tortured.

There was no violence against me as a woman. There were attempts, but they were thwarted by our own people. For this, no matter how stupid it sounds, thank them... Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to live any longer.

I want to bring to justice all those involved not only in my abduction, but also in my abuse. Otherwise, it turns out that only Anatoly Yakubenko (Valuy), who kidnapped us, is to blame, and those who held us and starved us and so on are “unfortunate”, carrying out orders. Isn't fulfilling a criminal order a crime?

-What else did you have to experience?

-Before that, I knew what hunger was, there I also learned what thirst was and how to endure going to the toilet until the last minute. There was a bucket next to the bench; it was not often taken away. Afterwards, my stomach hurt a lot, I had cystitis, I suffered from pneumonia... although when I was “burning” it was easier for me, it seemed that I could fall asleep and not wake up, or rather wake up in another place. And the darkness... it presses. Loneliness...alone with your thoughts. I cried a lot, begged for mercy, I don’t understand why I was going through such a test. They were deaf; they didn’t let me call my requests to inform my relatives about my and Vita’s whereabouts. They told me that they were not looking for me, but that my relatives had died, probably another type of torture.

For the first six days on Mayskaya, I was not left alone - a man armed with a machine gun sat with me... People changed every 6-8 hours, at least some kind of company, however, then I did not understand this and wanted to remain alone. I’m not a criminal and I don’t understand what happened to people and men in particular? Where does such cruelty come from? I don't want to describe it.

When it became completely unbearable, I thought I would die. The kidnappers took me to an adobe house, where they gave me a room with boarded up windows and an iron door, but it was warm there. True, they fed me once every two days; I was on a VERY strict fast.

Wheat porridge without salt was tastier than pasta without salt. They gave us bread very rarely; they said that they didn’t even have it themselves. Sometimes they brought soup. Compared to porridge without salt, the soup was very tasty. In 75 days I was taken to the shower 6 times, although I was afraid. There were attempts, but they were stopped by our own people, there was no sexual violence, so sometimes with bursts of gunfire over the head, at the feet, or next to the face.

I’m grateful that they didn’t commit violence, otherwise I wouldn’t exist. How to live with it. They threatened to let them circle the crowd. Then I didn’t sleep at night, I was with a nail in my hand. Found it. I thought at least one, if they climbed... but it turned out okay, I thank God and the people for being sorry. So there is something...

-What happened to your car and other property you had with you?

– The car, documents and money were taken away immediately. They removed the gold later, kindly offering to exchange my healthy, unshot leg for jewelry.

The car moved around Donetsk for a long time after Yakubenko (Valuya) was detained. So he doesn't have it. Perhaps he gave it away or sold it. Why aren't the authorities interested? Or is she special? After all, they said that they would return the property... Perhaps this now helped me resume my business. I got a job at a technical school, but just so you understand, the salary is 2300 UAH, with this wonderful exchange rate of 4600 rubles and magical prices, I simply can’t survive. People in Donetsk are magicians who still live, or rather survive.

-Who represented the Cossacks at Sokol?

-The representative from the Cossacks, or, as he called himself, the observer, was Sergei Spivak. I knew this man for many years and had a different opinion about him, a good one. I don’t understand what happened to the man, or such a good actor... Now they are looking for him.

-If I understand you correctly, then after your kidnapping the Cossacks became the owners of the Falcon?

-Yes, exactly them. I have copies of the contracts, which were later confiscated from the entrepreneurs. We saw the faces of the kidnappers, among them was Yakubenko (after Kortunov, he became the director of Sokol, at least his name was listed in the contracts) and, as far as I know, they did not pay any taxes.

-What about your family, by the way? How did they react to all this?

“Everyone was scared for us, they were very worried, but they hoped and searched, despite the rumors that were spread that we had been killed.

My family is against the fact that I turned to you - they are afraid for me. But what will change if I remain silent? Will they forget about me?..and should I forget about bullying and property? Many people behave with me as if I were at a resort, or in the village with my grandmother, who is not there. Perhaps this is people's tactfulness. I support this game. I don’t need pity, but I would like understanding... I can’t turn off my memory. What do you think should be done? I can’t leave, I have no documents.

I’m an orphan and I achieved everything on my own. After boarding school she received higher education. Thank you, it's free. She raised her younger sister.

I sold my father’s house to start my own business... But some of the kidnappers were from my area, and they were probably jealous of me and my successes. One person liked my old car. That’s what he said when he joined the Cossacks: “We will dispossess you, Anya, and others like you.” I have a question: “What kind of people are like me? Where in their concepts does it say that people like me need to be robbed, and where should I look for help?

-How did your release happen?

-I was thrown out, tied up, handcuffed, in a bag, tied with tape, on February 12, 2015. After Victor's escape, they probably had nothing left to do. In the field behind the Shcheglovsky cemetery. They threatened me to remain silent if I wanted to live.

-What is happening to your kidnappers now?

-At the moment, only Yakubenko has been arrested. The rest are wanted, as I was told. However, after my release, they repeatedly came to me with threats. In the photo is Yakubenko Anatoly.

The most disgusting thing is that I believed the authorities. They also gave many criminals the opportunity to lie low. They said that there was no order, but in the time after my liberation, what happened to the people who were captured by the Cossacks, like me? Why was there no timely response?

-What did the kidnappers want from you?

-I had various “conversations” among them, and those that they were interested in property, offered to transfer property to them, give them a car... Give addresses of friends who have money...

Yakubenko, using a weapon, demanded (and recorded the torture on video) that he should say dirt on himself... To this I replied that let him shoot without reason, but I would not write anything about myself...

I won’t describe the horror I lived in; I still wake up and am scared that I dream that everything is behind me... Although where is it behind me when the majority is free.

I found a video where there is one of those who held me captive, and the DPR police told me that this was not interesting. She gave many call signs, but there was not a single identification after the disarmament of the Cossacks.

I asked Safonenko to return my property, at least my car and documents.

They told me that I would not do anything against them. And they are right... I fight and nothing happens, only there are more enemies.

There, by the way, in this Cossack gang, there were many people sitting there who told me about concepts. I was only convinced that this was not a prison, but a concentration camp. I can’t understand the concepts where it is written that it is honorable to mock a woman...

-What happened to the entrepreneurs after your abduction?

-After my abduction with the signatures of the entrepreneurs of the Sokol market, all the tenants were forced to re-sign the contracts by order, i.e. break contracts with Sokol LLC and enter into new ones with Kazachiy Privoz LLC, where the director was the same Yakubenko who kidnapped me.

After the events of May 2015 (disarmament of the Cossacks), the contracts with Kazachiy Privoz LLC were again torn up and withdrawn and concluded with the Sokol company. The Cossacks first lowered the rent, and then raised it in May.

I contacted the DPR Ministry of State Security after my release. They made it possible to partially remove the goods, partly because, since no one heated the store during my absence, most of the goods froze and could not be restored.

-By the way, what kind of Cossacks were they?

-By Cossacks I mean some kind of “Cossack Union of the Don Army Region” (that’s how they call themselves) led by Yuri Safonenko. Maybe there are normal Cossacks, but not the one I encountered.

Although, I think, there were good people among them, after all, they can’t all be creatures... I was just “lucky” to encounter the worst of their representatives.

Then I don't understand why they don't want to whiten their name. I met some later. They denied it and apologized for what happened, but that doesn’t make it any easier for me.

Where is at least one person punished?

I saw that Safonenko was giving an interview. The OBOP told me that he was in prison, that he was arrested at the border... But how is it possible that he is both in prison and at the same time giving an interview?

Alexey Dikiy was the head of the OBOP for some time. Now he is the Minister of Internal Affairs. I was at a reception with his deputy... The conversation did not work out, the topic was not interesting to them. They promised to call me back and, of course, they didn’t call me back.

Now something incomprehensible is happening at the Sokol market - it seems that the Cossacks have been removed, but people are disappearing, and the intimidation continues.

They again collected signatures to reduce the rent, however, few people signed after the incident with me. Many are afraid, and the administration openly reminds those who are especially proactive about this.

Where are the punished? But they are not there... I wrote statements to the OBOP, the MGB, and the Prosecutor General's Office. Where to go? Where's the justice? I tried to get an appointment with the leadership of the Republic several times, but it didn’t work out. What future awaits me? and is it waiting... Should I be afraid of revenge from the Cossacks? I don’t expect the truth from them, I know it.

What should I do? My friends recommend that I wait... How much to wait? I have no documents! What do you call a person with a DPR certificate instead of documents?