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“We had no choice.” Ukrainians who left Mariupola strategic port seized by the Russians after weeks of siege, told AFP how they were forced to go to Russia instead of another region of Ukraine, a policy that kyiv compares to “deportations”.
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After spending several weeks in a basement in Mariupol and lost her father in a missile attack, Tetiana, a 38-year-old accountant, decided to leave the city to “save her nine-year-old daughter”.
Without a mobile phone network and without means of communication, he took advantage of a pause in the bombing to go to a meeting point designated by the authorities and find out about the possibility of leaving the city.
The officials in charge of the evacuation, appointed by the pro-Russian authorities, then told him that it would only be possible to go to Russia.
“We were in shock, we didn’t want to go to Russia,” Tetiana said by phone from Riga, Latvia, where she and her family are now refugees. “How can you go to a country that wants to kill you?”
Ukrainian authorities accuse Moscow of “illegally transferring” more than a million Ukrainians to Russia or to the eastern part of Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists, and even used the term “deportations”.
A Russian Defense Ministry official, Mikhail Mizintsev, confirmed the figure of one million. But Moscow insists that its only goal is to allow the “evacuation” of civilians from “dangerous areas”.
Some civilians are forced to be evacuated to Russia because the fighting prevents them from crossing the front line. Ielyzaveta, from Izum – a city in the Kharkov region occupied by Russia–, came to Estonia through Russia because “it was impossible to go to Ukraine,” he told AFP.
– Mandatory “Filtration” –
But for Tetiana and two other families of Mariupol — where nearly three months of bombing has left at least 20,000 dead according to Kiev — Russian forces chose for them.
Svitlana (name changed) was also hiding in a basement with her husband and in-laws in Mariupol when Russian soldiers ordered them to go to an area controlled by Moscow forces.
“When an armed man tells you, you can’t say no,” says the 46-year-old Ukrainian, who has since been able to return to Ukraine.
His family was first transferred to Novoazovsk, a small town held by pro-Russian separatists some 40 km east of Mariupolwhere they stayed four days in a school, and then to Starobesheve, 80 kilometers to the north, in the separatist zone.
They ended up in a crowded cultural center “where people were sleeping on the floor,” says Svitlana. “The worst thing was the smell of dirty feet, dirty bodies, it stayed on our clothes despite washing them several times.”
Three days later, the family was questioned as part of a mandatory “filtering” stage.
In a pro-Russian separatist police building, they had to answer written questions about whether they had relatives in the Ukrainian army, give their fingerprints and cell phones to be verified.
In a separate room, the men had to strip to check for patriotic tattoos or combat injuries.
“My husband had to take off everything but his underwear and socks,” says Svitlana. “We also delete all photos and social media from our phones” for fear of reprisals for his “pro-Ukrainian stance,” she adds.
– “Illegal” –
Ivan Drouz, who left Mariupol with his stepbrother in April, he also went through this “leak” in Starobesheve.
He hoped to be able to return to the territory controlled by kyiv, but after five days of a chaotic trip through the pro-Russian separatist territory, when “we asked how to go to the Ukrainian side, they told us that it was not possible,” the 23-year-old told AFP. , who now found refuge in Riga.
When she reached the Russian border, she had to undress and answer questions about messages in Ukrainian with her aunt. “They asked me why he was writing to me in Ukrainian” and “they wanted to check that he wasn’t a Nazi,” she says.
“Everything they did was illegal,” adds Svitlana. “But you can’t say no.”
Once in Russia, the families Tetiana and Ivan were sent to Taganrog, about 100 kilometers from Mariupol. As soon as they got there, Russian officials told them to go by train to Vladimir, more than 1,000 kilometers to the north.
From there, Ivan and his brother had to set off again, this time to Murom, 130 kilometers to the southeast, to finally reach a hotel for refugees.
“All the journey it’s a series of choices made on your behalf,” he says. Although they were not locked up or threatened, “everything is organized to keep people in Russia, as if it were about populating cities where nobody wants to live,” he adds.
“They wanted to send us to remote parts of their country so that we cannot tell the truth” about the “genocide” organized by Russia in MariupolTetiana accuses.
Thanks to Russian friends, the families from Ivan, Tetiana and Svitlana were able to travel to Moscow. From there, they took buses to Latvia or Estonia, where they knew Ukrainian refugees were welcome.
“Once in Latvia, we feel free,” says Tetiana.
Source: Elcomercio
I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.
