During an interrogation by Russian intelligence officers at a police station in Ukraine’s Balakliia town in June, local businessman Ruslan Volobuyev was beaten by one of the men, he said. At one point, according to Volobuyev’s account, a thick-set man in his 40s with a cleft chin entered the room. He greeted the two interrogators, shaking their hands, and left.
That man was the military commandant of Balakliia, a key figure in Russia’s six-month occupation of the eastern Ukrainian town. Russian forces unlawfully detained at least 200 civilians in the town, local police have said, and in some instances administered torture, four residents told Reuters. Dozens of detainees from Balakliia and the surrounding area remain unaccounted for, said Nelya Kholod, a volunteer helping identify those missing.
