Andrei Kolomiets

On the night of 17 May 2015, he was detained in Kabardino-Balkaria, interrogated on charges of attempted murder of Berkut fighters on the Maidan in Kiev (who received Russian citizenship in Crimea after the events), gave a confession, which he later retracted, claiming that he had given it under torture; according to the investigation, after the interrogation he was released and on his way home he picked marijuana and tried to smuggle it in a hitchhiking car, but was detained. Kolomiets claims that he was not released and that the drugs had been planted in the car in which he was then put by the operatives; there is no material evidence of Kolomiets’ attack on the Berkut fighters in the case and everything is based on testimonies of the victims, while the testimony of one of them changed significantly after Kolomiets’ arrest – a description of a person similar to him was added to it.

On 10 June 2016, he was sentenced to ten years in a strict regime colony. On 1 June 2023, the court of cassation excluded a part relating to the victims’ performance of official duties from the charge of attempted murder and a part relating to transportation from the charge under the article on drugs. Kolomiets’ sentence was reduced by four months.

On 15 January 2025, Kolomiets was released. On the same day, he was taken to a deportation centre. He was later deported from Russia, but in July 2025 Kolomiets was reported to have been stuck in a buffer zone at the border with Georgia. Soon after that, he eventually managed to return to Ukraine.