You're reading: Ukrainian prisoner in Russian custody ‘may already be dead’

The imprisonment and presumed death of a key ally of Ukrainian nationalist leader Dymtro Yarush are suspected as part of a dark ploy by Russia's Federal Security Service to infiltrate the Right Sector.


Mykola Karpyuk was a close ally of Dmytro
Yarosh, who shot to fame as part of the militant wing of the Euromaidan
Revolution. The Right Sector leader gained a fearsome reputation in Russia,
fueling the Kremlin’s view that ex-President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted in a
violent coup.

Karpyuk was detained while entering Russia in
March 2014. That’s the last anybody from Ukraine heard about him.

Since then, nobody has been allowed to see
him, according to his lawyer, Ilya Novikov. Russian authorities even refuse to
offer proof that he is alive.

“Karpyuk may already be dead,” Novikov warned
on his Facebook page on May 14.

“For 14 months since his arrest, they won’t
let the envoys see him,” Novikov wrote. “This whole time we have been
corresponding with Russia’s Foreign Ministry and the Investigative Committee. The
Foreign Ministry says, ‘Come visit, there are no obstacles to visit, just
approve the date with investigators.’ Investigators say, ‘Currently, visits are
not possible, investigative work is under way. We’ll return to the issue after
May 1 …. After May 10 … after May 30.”

Dmytro Kuleba, a representative of Ukraine’s
Foreign Ministry who is involved in Karpyuk’s case, echoed Novikov’s
frustrations.

“We’ve been demanding access to him from the
Russians this whole time with no luck,” he said. According to Kuleba, not only
has the Russian side refused visits, it has also refused to provide evidence
that Karpyuk is still alive. His
whereabouts are currently unknown.

Unlike Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko, whose
detention in Russia has captivated the international community, Karpyuk’s case
has flown mostly under the radar.

“I personally believe that his life has been
in danger this entire time, because after snatching him, Russian authorities
for some reason did not organize a public process like they did for Savchenko,
and instead hid the fact that Karpyuk was in detention,” said Andrei Denisenko,
a lawmaker and former leader of Right Sector.

“I’m afraid there really is reason to believe
that Karpyuk is already gone,” he said. “His family has not been allowed to see
him this whole time either.”

Karpyuk was one of Yarosh’s closest allies and
a co-chairman of Right Sector, which never gained enough political clout to win
seats as a party to Parliament in October.

His detention came shortly after Right Sector announced
its political ambitions, which is fueling speculation that Russia’s security
services may have taken him.

Karpyuk’s detention also came at the height of
hysteria in Russia over Right Sector, with state-run media furiously
circulating reports that members of the group were on their way to Russia to
carry out terrorist attacks. Getting at Karpyuk may have been a way for Russian
security services to simply hurt Yarosh, Denisenko said.

Officially, Russian investigators accused
Karpyuk of creating illegal armed groups in Chechnya in the 1990s, court
documents showed.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry sent a note of
protest to the Russian Foreign Ministry over Karpyuk’s treatment last month.

“There has been gross negligence by the
competent bodies of the Russian Federation of their obligations to provide
diplomatic visits … and the repeated appeals by the Ukrainian side for
information on the location of the given individuals have been ignored,” the
note said.

A request for comment sent to Russia’s
Investigative Committee went unanswered by print time.