Ukrainian war veteran detained in Poland: Interpol gave in to pressure from Russia and blacklisted us
The Ukrainian war veteran Ihor Mazur, who was arrested in Poland and recently released on bail, believes that Interpol “gave in” to pressure from Russia and included persons wanted in Russia in its database.
“I don’t think that someone ratted me out. It’s more likely that, in the last few months, Russia started actively working on an international level and, unfortunately, just like Denmark gave in and authorized the construction of Nord Stream 2, so somewhere Interpol gave in and decided to include us on this blacklist. In this way, they also agreed that a Russian court, which could judge me or one of the boys, is capable of judging fairly,” Mazur said at a press conference broadcast by the Ukrinform news agency.
“Interpol, which previously did not blacklist the people who, in the Caucasus, shed light on the crimes committed by the Russian army in the 90s, in Georgia and Chechnya, has now blacklisted us. I consider it possible that, apart from me, others could be on the wanted list,” Mazur remarked.
Mazur said that the Ukrainian border guards did not warn him that he was on the Interpol database. The Ukrainian noted that he also made trips to Poland last year and the year before that.
Mazur denies Russia’s allegations that he took part in combat in Chechnya.
“I did not take part in combat. I was in Chechnya at the time, we went as journalists, it was the Free Caucasus press center,” he said.
“It would be quite funny, if it wasn’t such a shame. The same charges are being brought against Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the Tyahnybok brothers, Dmytro Yarosh and about another five guys. The same charges were brought against Mykola Karpyuk and Stanislav, who have never been to Chechnya, but that was not important to the Russian ‘justice system’,” Mazur noted.
“For a time, the same charges were brought against Mr. Yuri Shukhevych, who is blind. But because he belongs to the leadership of the Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian People’s Self-Defense (UNA-UNSO), he is also in this case. Yaroslav Lahnyuk, our chairman of the executive committee, who was three and a half years old at the time, has also been included in this case, for supposedly torturing 10 Russians and taking part in combat. They didn’t even notice that he was born in 1991.”
On Sunday, Ihor Mazur, an employee of the Secretariat of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, was released on bail and handed over to the Ukrainian consulate general in Poland, Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova reported on Facebook.