FSB kidnaps ambulance nurse in Crimea and holds her incommunicado

Tamara Chernukha, a paramedic, was detained in Crimea - she is suspected of "high treason", but no one has officially informed her whereabouts. The woman is being held without contact with her family, medicines and a lawyer.

This was reported by the press service of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center.

In the Black Sea region of the temporarily occupied Crimea, 61-year-old ambulance paramedic Tamara Chernukha has been held without contact with relatives and legal assistance since February 2025. She was detained on February 5 by the FSB on charges of"high treason".

Since her detention, the woman's whereabouts have not been officially disclosed. The family appealed to the occupation police and the prosecutor's office to no avail, but they replied that they had no information. In the first days after the disappearance, the police tried to check Chernukha's house, but suddenly stopped after receiving instructions from above.

According to the press service, later, through friends and colleagues, relatives learned that Tamara Chernukha could be in a pre-trial detention center, but this information has not been officially confirmed. The woman has serious health problems, but she is being held without the possibility of receiving medicines or parcels.

The Association of Reintegration of Crimea emphasized that the case has signs of enforced disappearance and grossly violates the norms of international humanitarian law, in particular the IV Geneva Convention. Relevant appeals were sent to the UN, OSCE, ICRC and other international institutions. Human rights activists are calling for increased pressure on Russia to ensure disclosure of information about the woman's condition and whereabouts.

Russia's repressive machine punishes any manifestation of Ukrainian identity - from comments on social media to participation in human rights initiatives. For more than two years now, the law on "discrediting the Russian army" has been in effect in Crimea, which the authorities have been actively using to persecute dissidents: people are fined, searched, and imprisoned for words, songs, publications, and even for candy. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, at least 1,350 cases have been opened in Russia on charges of "discrediting the army."

Анна Бальчінос