Maryna Ryff has not been seen since she set off on 12 November 2025 for the occupation ‘migration office’ in Simferopol. Enough, however, is known to assume that she is being held in detention and that she was probably targeted for her unwavering stand as a Ukrainian. News of her disappearance comes as information finally emerged about the whereabouts of two other Ukrainian women – Evelina Melnychuk and Tetiana Diakunovska, both of whom were abducted in occupied Crimea well over a year ago and held incommunicado. There remains no information about a chillingly large number of other men and women who have ‘disappeared’, very often after being seized by the Russian FSB.
News of Maryna Ryff’s disappearance was reported by the Crimean Human Rights Group [CHRG] on 6 April 2026, six months after she disappeared in occupied Simferopol. Maryna had remained in occupied Crimea, while refusing to take the Russian citizenship which the occupying state illegally foists on all residents of occupied territory. Among the many difficulties this entailed, was the need to organize her continued presence in her own native Crimea at the so-called Russian migration office. She did not return on 12 November 2025, and all contact with her was lost.
It soon became clear, however, that on that same day, ‘judge’ Yevgeny Pronin from the occupation ‘Kievsky district court’ in Simferopol had sentenced Maryna Ryff to 14 days’ imprisonment and imposed fines of over 120 thousand roubles, on three administrative charges. These were all seemingly over Facebook posts, with Maryna accused of ‘demonstrating prohibited symbols’ under Article 20.3 § 1 of Russia’s code of administrative offences; of ‘discrediting Russia’s armed forces’, under Article 20.3.3 § 1; and of ‘petty hooliganism’ through material on the internet which was claimed to ‘demonstrate disrespect for’ society, the state, official state symbols of the RF, Russian executive bodies, etc., under Article 20.1 § 3.
All of these articles are among Russia’s arsenal of political repression on occupied territory, with Article 20.3.3 one of four new charges rushed into law within ten days of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in order to crush protest and truthful information about the war.
It is extremely worrying that nothing is known of Maryna’s whereabouts. Her family and human rights groups assume that she is being held in a SIZO or remand prison, but this is likely without any formal charges having been laid, and definitely incommunicado. Such periods where a person is effectively hidden away and not officially in detention are extremely dangerous, with Russian ‘investigators’ typically using torture or other forms of duress to fabricate charges.
The Crimean Human Rights Group stress that Maryna continued to refuse Russian citizenship despite constant pressure and threats and believe that her persecution now is due to her open Ukrainian position.
There has been a huge increase in the number of women facing persecution on occupied territory, with very many of them also abducted and held incommunicado for long periods.
Tetiana Diakunovska and Evelina Melnychuk
Zarema Barieva from the Crimean Tatar Resource Centre [CTRC] reported on 4 April that Tetiana Diakunovska (b. 18.12.1982) had been ‘found’ imprisoned in SIZO No. 2 in Simferopol, The 43-year-old from Sevastopol had been seized on 14 August 2024, after a search of her home, and held incommunicado for 19 months, with the occupation enforcement bodies denying any knowledge of her whereabouts.
SIZO No. 2 is one of the two remand prisons opened in the months after Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and is believed to be controlled by the FSB and used exclusively for political prisoners (including many civilians abducted from occupied parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts).
58-year-old Evelina Melnychuk is from Yalta, but has lived for many years both in Ukraine and in Slovenia. Zarema Barieva reports that Evelina and her 79-year-old mother set out on 20 November 2024 from occupied Crimea to Voronezh in Russia, planning to continue on to Belarus and then Slovenia. In Voronezh they stopped for the night in a hotel. During that night, however, from 21-22 November 2024, Evelina Melnychuk was seized by the Russian FSB and taken away in handcuffs and with a bag over her head. Evelina’s mother, who had been forced to watch her daughter being taken prisoner like that, died three months later, in February 2025.
It is now known that she is imprisoned in SIZO No.1. She has not only been deprived any contact with her family but has also not had a lawyer.
Both women are accused of ‘treason’, under Article 275 of Russia’s criminal code, and face sentences of between 12 and 20 years’ imprisonment.
The same is true of Russia’s first Karaim political prisoner in occupied Crimea. 28-year-old Sakha Manhubi was held incommunicado, with the FSB denying any knowledge of her whereabouts, for 15 months before being formally ‘remanded in custody’ at the beginning of February 2026. This is despite the fact that she is a solo mother with two small children (details here). It was reported on 6 April that she has been sent for a mandatory 'psychiatric assessment', during which the 'doctors' will, doubtless, avoid asking inconvenient questions about how long Sakha has actually been held prisoner and prevented from being with her children.
It should be stressed that the charges of ‘treason’ may be over photos, etc. on social media that the FSB decide to claim were being sent to Ukraine’s Security Service; over donations to Ukraine’s Armed Forces; or may be totally fabricated. Where a person does not have Russian citizenship, ‘spying’ charges or some other pretext is used. In all cases, ‘convictions’ and long sentences, normally after supposed ‘trials’ held totally behind closed doors, are essentially guaranteed.
See also:
Niyara Ersmambetova
Abducted Crimean Tatar mother of two sentenced to 15 years on Russia's cynical ‘treason’ charges
Lera Dzhemilova
Anatoliy Kobzar
From enforced disappearance to imprisonment: Anatoliy Kobzar found after 19 months of Russian lies
Ismail Shemshedinov
Oleh Platonov and Natalia Poliukh
Russian FSB abduct Crimean couple, place their child in care
Tamara Chernukha
Serhiy Hrishchenkov
Ruslan Mambetov Crimean Tatar sentenced to 18 years in Russian secret ‘trial’ where only torture is near certain
Roman Hryhorian Ukrainian seized in Crimea and sentenced to 12 years for donations to Ukraine's defenders
Victoria Strilets and her daughter Oleksandr Strilets
Oksana Senedzhuk Russia rubberstamps 15-year ‘treason’ sentence against 58-year-old Crimean activist Oksana Senedzhuk
Liudmyla Kolesnikova Russian FSB abduct Ukrainian from her mother’s funeral in occupied Crimea
Nina Tymoshenko Russia’s most savage sentence yet against 66-year-old Ukrainian woman from occupied Crimea
Serhiy Lykhomanov
Russia sentences abducted Crimean to 15 years in second secret ‘trial’ on same absurd charges
