The NGO Association of Relatives of Political Prisoners of Kremlin (ARKPP) carried out a two-day advocacy visit to Vienna with a delegation of family members of illegally imprisoned energy workers. Human rights defenders organized a special event for IAEA delegates and representatives of international organizations working in the field of nuclear energy, as well as a separate meeting with members of the Austrian Parliament with the support of the local Ukrainian community. They also spoke with international journalists and representatives of Ukrainian civil society organizations abroad.
The delegation included relatives of illegally imprisoned energy workers – Svitlana Brazhnyk, Nataliia Spartesna, and Vladyslav Lavryk – as well as Ivan Samoidiuk, Deputy Mayor of Enerhodar, who himself spent 333 days in незаконне Russian detention. The advocacy activities were coordinated by invited expert Mariia Tomak and UARKPP Research and Analytics Coordinator Serhii Melnykovych.
The first day of the visit, February 24, coincided with the anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. A number of commemorative events took place in Vienna that day, organized by Ukrainian diplomatic missions and the diaspora.
In particular, the delegation joined a service at Vienna’s central cathedral, Stephansdom, where a prayer service was held and the choir “Sofiia” performed. Speeches were delivered by both Ukrainian diplomats and Austrian representatives. After that, the families took part in the “Light a Candle” action near the cathedral, holding portraits of their loved ones and other Ukrainian hostages.
Later, at the invitation of the Ukrainian diaspora organization “Mriia,” during a rally outside the Austrian Parliament, Ivan Samoidiuk publicly spoke about his experience in Russian captivity and called on the international community and Austrian parliamentarians to provide proactive support to Ukraine and to the families of those illegally imprisoned by the Russian Federation. Austrian parliamentarians from various parties also took part in the rally, including PACE President Petra Bayr.
February 25 began with a briefing for international journalists at the Vienna International Centre, one of the four UN headquarters sites, where the IAEA headquarters is also located. The briefing was organized by the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna. Journalists from leading international media outlets took part, including Agence France-Presse, Reuters, BBC, The Sun, as well as representatives of the Austrian press.
The key event of the visit was a thematic meeting at IAEA headquarters – “Human Cost of the ZNPP Occupation: Stories of the Russian Hostages from Enerhodar.” The event was timed to precede the IAEA Board of Governors meeting due to take place in Vienna in early March. This high-level briefing was organized thanks to the support of the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the International Organizations in Vienna and the Permanent Mission of the EU to the International Organizations in Vienna. Accordingly, Ukraine’s Permanent Representative Mr. Yurii Vitrenko and the EU Permanent Representative Mr. Carl Hallergard opened the event with remarks, stressing the importance of the humanitarian dimension of the Zaporizhzhia NPP occupation and the need for the unconditional release of the hostages.
The event was attended by numerous representatives of the diplomatic corps, including many Permanent Representatives, as well as international organizations. In particular, around fifteen Permanent Representatives / Heads of Delegation from various countries were present – including the EU, Spain, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Hungary, the Netherlands, Canada, Albania, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Slovenia, and Romania – as well as representatives of diplomatic missions from other states: Denmark, the United States, Latvia, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Malta, and Luxembourg, including non-Western countries represented by diplomats from India, Indonesia, Peru, Brazil, Costa Rica, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, Thailand, and Israel. Representatives of the IAEA Secretariat were also among the audience.
The families told the stories of their loved ones – Ruslan Lavryk, Oleksii Brazhnyk, and Serhii Spartesnyi – describing the circumstances of their detention, the prolonged absence of any contact with them, the torture used by FSB officers, and the coercion to sign contracts with Rosatom and obtain Russian passports. They stressed that, as of now, there are 35 hostages, including 14 ZNPP employees and 10 women. The audience also heard the story of Ivan Samoidiuk, who shared his experience of captivity and the abuse he endured. He said that he had witnessed the deaths of four other hostages who died from injuries sustained under torture.
Speakers at the briefing stressed that ZNPP workers became hostages precisely because of carrying out their professional duties and because of their commitment to nuclear safety in Ukraine and worldwide. This point was made, in particular, by Khrystyna Levchenko, head of the Youth Organization of Atomprofspilka. The event also featured Truth Hounds researcher Alice Mee, who spoke about the organization’s research showing Rosatom’s direct involvement in creating a system of serious human rights violations at the ZNPP.
The participants also highlighted a petition that had been published the day before on the globally known platform AVAAZ through the joint efforts of the United Association of Relatives of Kremlin Political Prisoners and Truth Hounds. In the open appeal, activists call on IAEA Director General Mr. Grossi to use his position to help secure the release of the imprisoned ZNPP energy workers. As of February 27, the petition had already gathered more than 50,000 signatures, which did not go unnoticed in diplomatic circles.
Diplomats were deeply moved by the statements of our delegation. They expressed solidarity with the families and readiness to raise the issue of the hostages at the international level, including within the framework of the IAEA Board of Governors meeting.
The visit to Vienna concluded with a meeting at the Austrian Parliament with Austrian MPs Andreas Minnich, Nikolaus Scherak, Agnes-Sirkka Prammer, and Petra Bayr. Ms. Bayr and Ms. Prammer, as well as Mr. Scherak, are also delegates to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Petra Bayr recently assumed the position of PACE President, while Mr. Scherak chairs the Human Rights Committee of the Austrian Parliament.
This meeting was organized through the efforts of representatives of the new generation of the Ukrainian diaspora, namely the organization “Mriia” and its head, Andrii Karioti.
During the meeting, the families appealed to Austrian parliamentarians to raise the issue of Rosatom’s hostages at the level of the national parliament, in public communications, and within the Council of Europe. In particular, they discussed the possibility of preparing a report that could become the basis for a future PACE resolution on this category of illegally detained persons.
The participants also separately raised the issue of the limited access of the International Committee of the Red Cross to detainees, as well as the problem of incommunicado detention – when families have no confirmed information about the condition and whereabouts of their loved ones.
In addition, during the two days in Vienna, the families of the imprisoned energy workers spoke with journalists from the British newspaper The Sun, who came specifically from London to cover the visit. The journalists are preparing a major feature on the families’ experiences and on the visit itself. Together with the delegation, they attended the events and interviewed all family members, as well as Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the International Organizations in Vienna, Mr. Yurii Vitrenko.
This visit to Vienna became an opportunity to call on the world to pay attention to Ukrainian energy workers who have become Kremlin hostages because of their professional dedication and sense of responsibility. For their families, publicity, international attention, and solidarity remain among the very few tools available in the struggle to secure their loved ones’ release. We hope the world will hear them.
Here is what members of the delegation themselves said about the visit:
Ivan Samoidiuk
"Every meeting we had the opportunity to attend was very emotional. We used every chance to speak about our pain – the Kremlin’s imprisonment of ZNPP workers. We wanted to convey our grief, and people were ready to hear us.
It seems to me that the many meetings over these two days will bring results, and that we succeeded in conveying to the media and European politicians all the horror that I experienced as a former illegally imprisoned person, and that our imprisoned energy workers and their families continue to experience. Our stories were heard, and they left no one indifferent. European politicians are ready to help us in the struggle to free our civilian energy workers. Now we need to strengthen our work in this direction here in Ukraine.
I am personally impressed by and grateful for the work of our Permanent Mission in Vienna, which helped organize so many meetings during this period. I am also grateful to our diaspora for their engagement and proactive stance on the issue of Ukrainian civilian hostages."
Nataliia Spartesna
"Today we returned from our advocacy tour regarding the captured workers of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. We did not even expect there would be so many meetings at such a high level.
I was deeply moved by our communication with ambassadors and diplomats. The way they welcomed us warmly, lived through our stories with us, and were shocked by what they heard. We asked for their help, because we wanted to explain firsthand what is happening in the occupied territories and how our people are being treated.
We hope that the international community will be able to help us, find mechanisms of influence, and reach an agreement on the exchange of our hostages. Their children and grandchildren are waiting for them at home, longing to embrace them. We believe that together we can make this happen. My sincere thanks to everyone for the organization, support, and assistance."
Vladyslav Lavryk
“I gained hope that we are not alone in this world, that there are still people who want to help – simply help, without seeking any benefit for themselves. I felt especially warm and somehow at home when the Swedish Ambassador, Ms. Annika Ben David, came up to me and hugged me very tightly, like a mother, and said: ‘I am with you, the people of Sweden are with you and support you, we share your pain, you did well to come and tell this story.’
For my very first trip to an event like this, my emotions were simply overwhelming – when your soul is boiling, when your whole body burns with hatred and pain for your family, and then you see sincere eyes listening to you, understanding you, sympathizing with you, and thinking about how to find a way to return a person from captivity to their family – you begin to feel joy, and you realize: you are not alone, and your problem does not remain yours alone.”
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