When Russian President Vladimir Putin repeats his mantra about Russians and Ukrainians being one people, he has a highly specific idea of what ‘one people’ means, as well as regarding which Ukrainians, are to be viewed as ‘brothers’. Passionate young Ukrainian patriots, like 16-year-old Stepan Chubenko, are almost certainly not included, unlike the pro-Russian militants who seized the Ukrainian schoolboy on July 23, 2014, before torturing him and then killing him in cold blood. Donbas militant ‘commander’ Vadim Pogodin is undoubtedly now a Russian citizen but was not back in 2017 when Russia refused to extradite him to Ukraine to face justice for his fully established role in ordering the torture of the 16-year-old and in then firing the final, fatal shots. Russia is holding over 100 Crimean Tatar and other Ukrainian political prisoners who are not accused of any internationally recognized crime yet refused to hand over a convicted murderer. Quite the contrary, Pogodin is now receiving Russian public funding for contract work in occupied Crimea.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
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Halya Coynash: 16-year-old Stepan Chubenko tortured, killed
Pro-Russian extremists guard are seen in the center of Sloviansk on April 16, 2014.
