After prolonged negotiations last fall, the Russians indicated their willingness to release journalist Viktoria Roshchina, but they repeatedly postponed her return until reports emerged that she had died in captivity.
This was disclosed in an interview with Ukrinform by Head of the Secretariat of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War Bohdan Okhrimenko.
“The Coordination Headquarters made multiple requests for the return of Viktoria. After lengthy discussions last fall, we received a response from the Russians indicating that they were supposedly ready to return her. However, they postponed the return date several times. There were a number of exchanges at the time. On August 24, we had an exchange when we brought back our conscripts from Russia. There were two back-to-back exchanges on September 13-14, and one of them involved civilians. For some reason, the Russian side did not agree to hand her over during those exchanges,” Okhrimenko said.
He added: “We told them, ‘Set a date, we can carry out the necessary measures. We have experience. This doesn’t have to be an exchange; it could be a mutual return of civilians through Ombudsmen Lubinets and Moskalkova.’ But they said they would hand over Viktoria during the next exchange. However, the next exchange never took place because we later received information that she had died. This was not communicated to us directly but rather in response to a request from the lawyer hired by her father. That day, there was an exchange of civilians, and we hoped she would be among them, but unfortunately… The next exchange occurred on October 18, when those sentenced to life imprisonment were returned,” he added.
When asked whether the Coordination Headquarters suspects that Viktoria may have died in September, when she was not released during the exchange, Okhrimenko explained that the approximate date of death could be established by forensic experts after the return of the journalist’s body.
He also suggested that Viktoria Roshchina’s body had not been returned since last fall because “there are questions about the cause of death.”
“I am not asserting this, but I suspect it. To conceal the cause of death, the body must be kept in improper conditions for as long as possible. Any forensic expert will tell you that,” the representative of the Coordination Headquarters stated.
He assured that efforts to return Viktoria Roshchina’s body continue.
“We are trying to convince the other side to hand it over. After that, we will be able to make any statements. Currently, we can only make assumptions,” Okhrimenko said.
As reported, Viktoria Roshchina’s death was confirmed on October 10, 2024. According to a letter from the Russian Ministry of Defense received by her family on that day, she died on September 19. She had been listed for an exchange. Law enforcement classified the case of her disappearance as a war crime combined with premeditated murder.
According to the Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR), the journalist was supposed to be included in one of the upcoming prisoner exchanges.
Roshchina went missing in August 2023 during a trip to Russian-occupied territories.
Human rights defenders report that she was held in two of the harshest prisons in Russia.
Source: Coordination HQ reveals how Russians delay exchange of journalist Viktoria Roshchina
