The Russian propaganda machine sped into action after the death of Paul Urey, a British aid worker who Russian authorities had accused of being a “professional military man” tasked with recruiting and training “mercenaries,” claims they have did not present any evidence. The agency tasked with upholding “human rights” in the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic claimed that Urey, who died on July 10, succumbed to “chronic illnesses” and “stress” – and that he died in distress “due to indifference of his country to his fate”. The claim, part of an effort by the Russian-backed leadership in the banana republic to smear Western nations for refusing to recognize them, comes as concerns grow about other foreign prisoners seized by Russian forces. According to family members of Alexander Drueke and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, two U.S. vets who were serving as volunteers in the Ukrainian military when they were captured in the Kharkiv region in early June, no one appears to have been allowed to visit them in captivity. for a wellness check. Huynh’s family said that while Drueke has been allowed to contact loved ones several times by phone, Huynh has not been heard from since he was captured more than a month ago. “That’s what concerns us,” Darla Black, the mother of Huynh’s fiancé, Joy, told the Daily Beast. “They are not telling us exactly where the children are,” he said, adding that “the Red Cross has not yet been allowed to see Andy and Alex.” A third US POW, Suedi Murekezi, is reportedly being held in the same penal colony as Drueke and Huynh. Murekezi was not involved in any fighting and was arrested in the Kherson region while looking for petrol for his car, friends and family told the Guardian. While Drueke and Huynh’s whereabouts are secret, a few have been given access: Kremlin propagandists, appointed by Russian lawyers—and a former American cop who defected to Russia and soon became attached to Putin’s propaganda machine. While John Mark Dougan, also known as “BadVolf”, has described himself as a whistleblower fighting corruption in the US justice system. More recently he has made a name for himself as a conspiracy theorist and Kremlin laughingstock, repeating some of Moscow’s more far-fetched claims about the war, including that a US-Ukraine bioweapons conspiracy is at the heart of it all. But Dougan’s latest claim to fame is being the so-called “POW Whisperer,” as he puts it on his YouTube channel. In this new role, he is a freelance American journalist who asks foreign prisoners in Donetsk to talk about their time in Ukraine. In the interviews – all of which are considered polite and cordial, in contrast to some of the disturbing interviews conducted by Dougan’s fellow Western propagandists – Dougan subtly invites the detainees to incriminate themselves with the Russian leadership of proxies they claim are “mercenaries”. despite the fact that they all fought as official members of the Ukrainian army. For example, in a recent phone interview with Aiden Aslin that Dougan described as voluntary, Dougan asked, “I’m curious, did your mortar unit hit targets in the Donbas before the invasion started?” before correcting himself to say he meant “Russian special operations”. In another recent phone interview with Alexander Drueke, Dougan asked directly, “Did you get into any fights?” He went on to suggest that the 39-year-old captive should “publicly petition” US authorities to release him in exchange for Julian Assange, who could then start his new life in Donetsk or Moscow (way to let the cat out from the bag!). “Are the people holding them capable of unlawfully killing others? Definitely yes.” Dugan emphasized that all interviews are voluntary. When asked at the start of the interview to confirm that he had contacted Dougan of his own free will, Drueke said yes, before adding: “My defender here in the DRC allowed me to use this phone and gave me your number to to be able to do an interview”. In comments to The Daily Beast via Vkontakte, Dougan said the interview with Drueke was not his idea and that Drueke had asked to do the interview even though Dougan “didn’t know who he was.” He said he is currently in Donetsk and “will meet with him personally.” But when asked about the name of Drueke’s lawyer mentioned in the interview or the penal colony where he was being held, Dougan replied: “As far as the name of the lawyer or where he is being held, I can’t give you that information without permission.” Asked if he had heard anything about Andy Huynh, who has been noticeably absent from recent interviews, Dougan avoided a direct answer, saying only that he “doesn’t know much about their cases.” According to family members of Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh and Alexander Drueke, two US vets captured in the Kharkiv region in early June, no one has been allowed to visit them in captivity.
Photo by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty/Courtesy of Darla Black and Dianna Shaw
The faces and apparently scripted comments of Drueke and Huynh are routinely broadcast in interviews on Russian state television and circulated on pro-Russian social media channels, where their capture is touted as proof of Russian military prowess, Western malice and Ukrainian incompetence. points of the Kremlin’s deranged propaganda campaign. “Alex and Andy have both put some stuff in these ‘interviews,’” Diana Shaw, Drewek’s aunt and a family spokesperson, told the Daily Beast. “And one of the things that Andy slipped into one of them was that they were moved. That they were arrested and taken somewhere and then taken to this detention center.” Drueke and Huynh were not arrested on DPR territory. They were seized north of Kharkiv in an area swarming with Russian troops at the time. Despite this, the Kremlin has repeatedly pretended to be helpless in the men’s captivity and has claimed it has no control over the proceedings in the DPR, while encouraging the use of the death penalty against them. “That was interesting to us, is that in one of the interviews … Andy actually said ‘they took us over the border to Russia to the first prison camp,’ and I was really surprised that they delivered,” Black said. “I don’t think the Russians have ever confirmed that, but we’ve always suspected that they had been captured, gone to Russia, and then how did they end up in the hands of the separatists?” The consequences of such a transfer “are not a good sign,” said Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, who noted that Russian authorities handing over the detainees would know that there are fewer legal protections— and capital punishment—in the unrecognized republic. “My belief and my hope is that execution is not the purpose of this and they are really hostages or bargaining chips,” he said. However, he cautioned against interpreting the detention of the men as a simple ploy. “Are the people holding them capable of unlawfully killing others? Definitely yes.” Russian proxy leaders have responded to Western leaders’ refusal to negotiate with them by dramatically raising the stakes in the past week. Denis Pusilin, the leader of the self-proclaimed PRC, made a show of imposing the death penalty on prisoners from Morocco and the United Kingdom, the first foreign volunteers to be tried and sentenced to death since Vladimir Putin’s February 24 inauguration. invasion. Aslin, Pinner and Saadoun were arrested while serving in the Ukrainian army.
Photo illustration Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/Getty
British prisoners Aiden Ashlin and Sean Pinner and Moroccan national Brahim Saadoun were sentenced to death by firing squad after a rushed show trial in June. Although they were told they had the right to appeal, which all three subsequently filed, Pushilin noted this week that no DPR official was taking those appeals very seriously. In comments to Kremlin propagandist Vladimir Solovyov, Pushilin said authorities had already “prepared” a site for the execution to take place. (The Ministry of Justice of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic did not respond to questions from The Daily Beast about Pushilin’s announcement.) A spokesman for the UK Foreign Office told the Daily Beast “we are doing everything we can to support the men and are in close contact and helping their families”. On the US side, a State Department spokesman said authorities “have been in contact with Ukrainian and Russian authorities regarding US citizens who may have been captured by Russian forces or proxies while fighting in Ukraine. We call on Russia to abide by its international obligations to treat all persons captured fighting with the armed forces of Ukraine as prisoners of war.” Both the US and the UK have stressed that they do not recognize the Donetsk People’s Republic or the Lugansk People’s Republic and will not negotiate with them to secure the release of the prisoners. The Kremlin has used this to push the narrative that the prisoner governments themselves have abandoned them because they refused to negotiate with the leaders of the republic, which can boast international recognition only from Russia, Syria and North Korea, while the rest of the world considers it part of Ukraine. Ultimately, according to Krivosheev, such “confused Russian logic” and claims of “reasonable doubt” will not protect them from war crimes charges. “Russia is responsible. They are…
