The human rights project Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial recognised Ukrainian border guards Vasyl Dmytriuk and Ivan Tereshchenko as political prisoners on November 5. The group considers their Russian sentences politically motivated and calls for their prosecution to end.
In March 2018, Dmytriuk and Tereshchenko took part in the detention of the fishing vessel Nord and its crew in the Sea of Azov while serving in Ukraine's border guard. Russian authorities treated this as the unlawful seizure of a vessel and abduction of people. Memorial says the men were performing official duties under Ukrainian law.
In May 2022, the border guards participated in the defence of the Azovstal steelworks in Mariupol and were captured by Russian forces. Memorial says they were held for more than a year without a clearly defined procedural status before their detention was formally recorded in July 2023 in connection with the 2018 case. On June 10, 2024, a Russian court in occupied Crimea sentenced each man to 17 years in prison.
In the group's assessment, investigators and the court disregarded the men's status as prisoners of war and the protections afforded by international humanitarian law.