The political persecution that Russia brought to Crimea in 2014 does not just happen. It requires serious contingents of enforcement officers; ‘investigators’; prosecutors; ‘judges’ and others willing to play their role in imprisoning innocent men and women. Some of these individuals, like FSB ‘investigator’ Vitaly Vlasov, are implicated in multiple cases of persecution, and it is vital that their actions are known and receive an adequate response, including through sanctions, from the Ukrainian authorities and Ukraine’s international partners.
