Ukrainian citizen Pavlo Hryb went to Gomel in Belarus on August 24, 2017 to meet with a Russian citizen Tatiana Yershova, whom he met on the social network “VKontakte”. Hryb crossed the Ukrainian-Belarusian border and disappeared. It was only two weeks later that the Consulate General of Ukraine in Rostov-on-Don received a message from the FSB that the teenager had been placed in the Krasnodar detention center. Later, we learned that the 19-year-old Ukrainian had been kidnapped by unknown persons and taken to the Russian Federation. He was accused of preparing a terrorist attack in one of the Sochi schools. In court, Hryb fully denied the charges. In an interview with Euroradio, Yershova confessed that she did not agree on a meeting in Gomel with Hryb on her own initiative — it was a requirement of the FSB staff. European Radio for Belarus journalist spoke to Hryb in Kyiv following the September exchange of prisoners that brought Hryb home to find out how the events unfolded in late August 2017.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
Hromadske: Pavlo Hryb shares story of his kidnapping by FSB
Pavlo Hryb speaks with journalists upon his arrival in Kyiv after Russia-Ukraine prisoner swap, at Boryspil International Airport, outside Kyiv, on Sept. 7, 2019.
