Russia's Foreign Prisoners: Justice or Intimidation?

Russia’s controversial arrest and prosecution of a dozen foreign nationals, primarily Ukrainians, have exacerbated the diplomatic fallout between Russia and Ukraine. Some of the prominent cases include Oleg Sentsov, a filmmaker, and Alexander Kolchenko, an activist, who were arrested in Crimea and sentenced to 20 and 10 years in prison respectively on terrorism charges in May 2014. Thereafter, Nadiya Savchenko, a politician and fighter pilot, was captured by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine in June 2014, and handed over to Russian authorities. Savchenko is accused of directing artillery fire that killed two Russian journalists, and could be imprisoned for 25 years if convicted. Eston Kohver, an Estonian security official, was also arrested near the Estonia-Russia border in September 2014. He was given a 15-year prison sentence for espionage charges. All four prisoners have denied the charges levelled against them.

Their arrest, detention and prosecution in Russian courts have been widely condemned by the West and international human rights organisations as politically-motivated and a violation of due process. The detainees’ respective governments have also claimed that the charges are fabricated. On 10 September 2015, the European Parliament adopted a non-legislative resolution urging Russia to release Sentsov, Kolchenko, Savchenko and Kohver, and condemned the “blatant violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine and Estonia”. 

The alleged wrongful detention of these foreign nationals has been viewed as both an intimidation tactic and political prisoner swap strategy by Russia. On 26 September, for example, Kohver was suddenly exchanged with Russian spy Aleksei Dressen, who had been imprisoned in Estonia since 2012. Russian Justice Minister, Alexander Konovalov, has further alluded to the prospect of Savchenko being exchanged for Russian nationals arrested by Ukrainian authorities. However, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko insists that Savchenko, Sentsov and other detainees should be released without conditions. 

Russia has claimed that it views these cases as criminal in nature and denies that they are politically-motivated. If such arrests continue however, it will bolster the notion that this practice is a new tactic used by Russia to intimidate its opponents. Moreover, the European Union (EU) is likely to respond with additional sanctions against its eastern neighbour.