The Russian troops detained a journalist from a local media oultet and kept her in the premises of the so-called “LPR MSS” for several days while occupying new territories of Luhansk oblast.
The detained journalist, whose name we are withholding for safety reasons, told an IMI representative about this in a private conversation.
According to the journalist, she stopped working immediately after her town was occupied in February. However, this did not save her from being detained. After a few weeks of occupation, the Russians took her to Luhansk for questioning and kept her there for some time, only letting her go back to her town later.
According to the journalist, the occupiers mainly asked her about her other colleagues from her town or others.
The occupiers offered her three options: prison, deportation, collaboration.
Out of fear, the woman chose “collaboration.” However, as soon as she was released, she was able to tell her colleagues in the free territory what had happened to her. In a few months, the journalist managed to escape from the occupation.
The journalist is not ready to tell her story publicly yet due to fear for her family. The town is still occupied.