My Captivity in Ukraine Shows Amateurs Succumb to Hatred

[jakeXT]

In eastern Ukraine, one text message can turn you into an enemy. In my case, it was sent to my father. “Talked to Borodai at night,” it said about an interview I had with a rebel leader.

“So, you are Borodai’s little friend,” concluded the camouflaged man reading my Nokia. His comrade pointed a Kalashnikov at my stomach. “We’ve got a Russian warrior here saying he is a journalist,” he called to someone in Russian.

It was July 25, 3 p.m. I was heading home to Russia from Donetsk when a routine inspection at a Ukrainian army checkpoint near Starobesheve village went bad. They saw my Russian passport and press card, and told me to get out and hand over my belongings. I tried to hide my BlackBerry. Then they found videos of separatists’ press conferences on my iPad. My guilt, whatever it was, was proven.

I managed to whisper a Moscow contact to my driver before being blindfolded and walked five steps to a waiting Hyundai SUV I’d seen approaching with masked men inside.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-07-27/my-captivity-in-ukraine-reveals-when-amateurs-succumb-to-hatred.html

[Igel]

1. Yup.

Then again, I'd rather fall into the hands of even Kolomoisky's guys than Right Sector.

And you have to get pretty extreme Right Sector folk before you start looking like rank-and-file LPR and DPR fighters these days. As the fight goes on, a greater and greater percentage of fighers are Russian citizens or from outside the Donbas.