FSB officer who personally took part in interrogations identified as "Dymer torturer"

Ukrainian law enforcement agencies have identified several Russian military commanders and an FSB officer who were responsible for occupying and torturing civilians in Kyiv Oblast during the early days of the full-scale invasion.

Source: National Police of Ukraine; Office of the Prosecutor General; Ukraine's Defence Intelligence

Details: The individuals concerned were members of the command of Russia's 83rd Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade, based in Ussuriysk in Primorsky Krai in Russia's Far East. Units of this brigade operated in the Vyshhorod district of Kyiv Oblast and were complicit in war crimes against civilians. Investigators have identified the brigade commander, his deputies for logistics and military-political work, and the chief of staff.

It has been established that these individuals organised the actions of their units during the occupation and ensured the functioning of the system of control over captured settlements. Under their command, in March 2022, Russian forces set up a torture chamber in the village of Dymer, at a foundry workshop belonging to a company called Alfa-Lend. Over 30 civilian men and women of various ages were held at the same time in a building about 30 sq m in size. In total, hundreds of people passed through the torture chamber.

The conditions in which they were held were inhumane: insufficient food and water, no medical care, a cold, unheated room. They were forced to sleep on the floor and to use an improvised toilet in front of others, and were systematically humiliated. During so-called "interrogations", the Russians would hit detainees with their hands and rifle butts, fire shots near their heads to simulate executions, use electric shock devices, and threaten to kill them.

A key role in the system was played by the representative of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) – the so-called "handler" responsible for filtration measures and working with civilians. He effectively organised and controlled the operation of the torture site, determined the detention conditions, and coordinated the Russian troops' actions.

With the help of Ukraine's Defence Intelligence, he has been identified as Lieutenant Colonel Sergei Oleynichuk of the FSB.

The Office of the Prosecutor General has served him with a notice of suspicion for violating the laws and customs of war.

Defence Intelligence also notes that Oleynichuk personally conducted interrogations involving the torture and ill-treatment of civilians. He may have made decisions regarding the deportation of residents of the Dymer area to Russia.

The investigators have documented the illegal transfer of at least 42 people by Russian forces, including villagers, students, businesspeople, coaches, and a journalist. The deportees were dispersed across various facilities in Russia, including pre-trial detention centres and penal colonies in Rostov, Bryansk, Smolensk, Perm, Tula and Vladimir oblasts and the Republic of Mordovia.

Some of them have been brought back to Ukraine, but at least 24 civilians remain in captivity.

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