The story of forbidden love, when a Russian loves a Ukrainian

News24xx.com - Tatyana is a 17-year-old Russian high-school student from Sochi and a big fan of 20th century Ukrainian history; Pavel is a 19-year-old philosophy student in Kiev and a Ukrainian patriot. Their love story starts in the Russian social network VKontakte in January 2017, where they discover they have a lot in common. They both are enthralled by the eventful life of Stepan Bandera and both like to read about Ukrainian nationalism. They soon fall in love and they start making plans to be together in Ukraine, to train as volunteers in a military camp and then go to Donbas.

 

But when Tatyana applies for a passport, she gets a visit from the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB), . She is told that if she cooperates with them, meets Pavel and just asks him a couple of questions, she would be issued the passport. Tatyana tells her beloved everything and he agrees to the meeting, to be held in Belarus, which Tatyana visit without a passport. Under the supervision of Tatyana's mother, they meet in the Belarusian city of Gomel on Friday, August 25 2017. The meeting is quick, they have enough time only to embrace each other and agree on future plans. It is the last time they see each other.

 

Shortly after they part, Pavel is kidnapped and then transferred to Russia, where he now faces charges of "terrorism".

This love story is not a plot of a film. It is what Ukrainian media outlet Hromadskoe and Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta were able to uncover investigating the mysterious disappearance of a Ukrainian citizen in Belarus and his reappearance in detention in the Russian city of Krasnodar.

The Belarusian authorities denied ever detaining Pavel but acknowledged that the Russians had put him on a "wanted" list. On September 13 2017, almost three weeks after his disappearance, the Russian authorities finally acknowledged that Pavel was under arrest in Russia. The Russian government is yet to comment on Pavel and Tatyana's story. The Ukrainian government has handed an official protest note to Moscow and demanded that Pavel be released immediately, but to no avail.

On October 18, the Krasnodar court extended his arrest until January 2018. Pavel has been charged with planning a "terrorist attack"; according to Russian media. The prosecution accuses him of encouraging Tatyana to plant a bomb in her school.

Pavel is suffering from a life-threatening condition for which he was supposed to undergo surgery. According to his lawyer, the Russian authorities have refused to give him the medicine he needs and, as a result, his condition is worsening. Tatyana is also part of the court case: she told Novaya Gazeta that she has not received the passport she was promised.

 

 

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