Luhansk history lecturer abducted by Kremlin-backed militants
At around midday on June 24 armed men burst into the home of Serhiy Sergiyenko, lecturer in history at the East Ukrainian National University and took him away. The militants used a crowbar to break down the door and also took computer technology away. Witnesses said that there were police present in the entrance to the apartment block during the abduction, however they could not say whether they were official police or from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
It is unclear why Sergiyenko was abducted. Informator.lg.ua writes that their sources from among the militants reported that he had been ‘detained for questioning on the personal instruction of Valery Bolotov, leader of the Luhansk militants. However the militants guarding the luhansk regional administration building and the SBU seized by the militants and believed to be holding a large number of hostages said that Sergiyenko was not there.
Friends of the lecturer believe that Sergiyenko may have been taken hostage because he photographed and posted on the Internet photographs and video footage of the movements of militant equipment.