Exchange was planned

Automatically saved draft

During research in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine, 28-year-old journalist Viktoriya Roshchina disappeared in August 2023.

(Bild: Krone KREATIV/AFP, Screenshot/Reporter ohne Grenzen)

According to the Ukrainian secret service, the imprisoned Ukrainian journalist Viktoriya Roshchina has died in Russia under as yet unexplained circumstances. Particularly tragic: the 28-year-old was about to be exchanged for a prisoner.

A spokesman for the Ukrainian secret service SBU, Andriy Yusov, told the public broadcaster Suspilne that Roshchina had been on a list of prisoners who were to be exchanged.

Long hunger strike
"The fact that she was transferred from the city of Taganrog to Moscow was a stage in the preparations for her release," confirmed Petro Yatsenko, head of the Coordination Staff for Prisoners' Affairs. According to media reports, the prisoner had been on a long hunger strike.

Roshchina was a freelancer for the Ukrainian media "Ukrainska Pravda" and Gromadske Radio as well as for the US-funded Radio Liberty.

Disappeared in August 2023
The Ukrainian woman disappeared in August 2023 in the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia. She had traveled from the government-controlled part of Ukraine via Poland to the occupied territories in July. In 2022, she had already been arrested once before in the southern Ukrainian port city of Berdyansk, which was controlled by Russian troops, but was later released. 

Father received letter
According to Ukraine's main journalists' union, her father received a letter from the Russian Ministry of Defense in April stating that his daughter was in Russian custody. The circumstances of her arrest were not disclosed. Nor did the letter provide any details about her whereabouts.

The organization "Reporters Without Borders" demanded full clarification on Friday and criticized that the Russian authorities had never released any information about the detainee despite numerous requests from the family.

17 journalists dead so far
According to international organizations, at least 17 journalists have been killed so far while reporting on the war in Ukraine. According to Ukrainian information, more than two dozen Ukrainian media representatives are currently being held in Russian prisons. Negotiations about their return are therefore underway.

Author hopes for resistance to Putin
Meanwhile, author Dmitry Glukhovsky, who has fled Russia, is hoping for resistance to Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin in his exile in Western Europe. "In the past three decades before the war, people of a generation have grown up who strive for a normal, humane, happy and free life," the 45-year-old told the German Press Agency.

"Russia needs to be refounded"
Tens of millions of Russians in the cities do not support the war against Ukraine and have the potential to resist the system. Glukhovsky's new book "Wir. Diary of a Downfall" (Heyne Verlag) has just been published. In it, he traces how Russia has developed into an increasingly authoritarian state under Putin based on many events over the past ten years. In his view, it is heading for the abyss. A refoundation of Russia as a state is necessary because Putin has led the country into a dead end, Glukhovsky said on the occasion of the book's publication.

In August 2023, the author was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison in a controversial trial for allegedly discrediting the Russian army. His books, which were bestsellers in Russia, are also practically banned in his home country.