The FSB’s new Crimean ‘plots’, in their use of torture, televised ‘confessions’ and unsubstantiated claims, bear an eerie similarity to the first Crimean arrests in May 2014 of Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, civic activist Oleksandr Kolchenko and two other men. However, if back in 2014, Russia was obviously targeting open opponents of its invasion and annexation of Crimea, this time even that is not clear. There is no evidence or likelihood that the first four men, seized in August, even knew each other. Of the six men so far arrested in November, two are world-known academics, and all exceptionally ill-cast for the role Russia is claiming.
It is at present unclear how many criminal cases are involved, but the gross irregularities in all 10 cases, the hyperbole from Russia’s leaders and government-controlled press give grounds for considering them together.
