Alexander Nemchikov was cleared of all suspicions and released: he wants to live in Russia
Being captured, and even by his own people (by mistake or an absurd accident) — that’s definitely not something anyone would do you won't want it. But until recently, such cases were not known. In July of this year, we wrote about the first precedent — ex-official of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs Alexander Nemchikov was captured by Russia in Ukraine. And now the story continues. The hero of the publication is free. And the very next day after he was released, he came to the editorial office.
Alexander Nemchikov in his office on Zhitnaya.
He did not come alone — together with his wife Svetlana, who had been looking for him among the living and the dead for a year and a half.
Let me briefly remind you of this amazing story. Alexander Viktorovich Nemchikov, formerly the head of the department of logistics organization (material and technical support) of the logistics department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia and he is also an assistant to the deputy minister, ten years ago resigned from his native department and left for Ukraine. There he started a family and became the father of two children. We lived in Bucha.
After the beginning of the North Military District, Alexander and his family were afraid to leave — they were sure that without a Ukrainian passport and with a Russian accent, Nemchikov would be shot at the first Ukrainian checkpoint.
In March 2022, when the Russian military entered Bucha, they checked all the houses, including the one in which Nemchikov lived. During one of the many checks, Nemchikov was taken away for identification purposes, but was never returned. And a few months later, his wife discovered his data on the website of Ukrainian prisoners of war.
“How could this happen? He’s a citizen of Russia, he’s never been a citizen of Ukraine,” his wife Svetlana cried in the editorial office (she herself, by the way, is from Artemovsk). To my inquiries about the fate of the former high-ranking Russian policeman Alexander Nemchikov, if I received answers, they were very strange, from which it followed that the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the FSB, the Investigative Committee and the Ministry of Defense of Russia had no claims against him, and did not know where he was.”
And he himself came to the editorial office. Thin, but cheerful.
— I congratulate him.
— Thank you. Spent a year and a half in captivity by mistake.
— To be in Russian captivity as a Ukrainian prisoner of war? I'm telling you. In general, in my case, it’s especially offensive that I am a citizen of the Russian Federation, and I was kept precisely as a Ukrainian. I am a civilian who has nothing to do with Ukraine and its armed forces, but was listed as a prisoner of war.
At first, when I got into this situation, I was very afraid of torture and beatings. I prepared myself mentally for hunger and cold. But the conditions of detention of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia turned out to be quite bearable. Despite the fact that I visited three regions in different pre-trial detention centers. Separate isolation wards are allocated for Ukrainian prisoners of war; they do not intersect with ordinary prisoners there.
Somewhere it was better, somewhere a little worse. In one pre-trial detention center they even treated our teeth and generally provided us with fairly qualified medical care.
I can now say from my own experience that our country, despite the unfriendly actions of Ukraine and the extremely inhumane attitude towards Russian prisoners of war there, ensures the maintenance of Ukrainians at an acceptable level. The maintenance of Ukrainian prisoners of war complies with the standards of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War of 1949.
— I was in the cell almost all the time. There were from 2 to 10 of us there. We were fed three times a day. Porridge in the morning, soup and main course for lunch, potatoes and noodles with meat or fish for dinner, enough bread and tea. The food was normal.
True, I personally lost a lot of weight, more than 30 kg, but this was due to stress. I didn’t understand why I was here, different thoughts were spinning in my head for days. Bed linen was changed on average once every two weeks. Soap and toothpaste were provided once a month. They took us out for walks every day.
The main discomfort is caused by the inability to communicate with family and friends and the lack of any physical activity, since prisoners of war are not involved in work, even the distribution of food is provided to them by Russian citizens.
— No, I’ve never seen any of them.< /p>
— In my case, I don’t know exactly why. But several people received letters from their relatives. According to the Geneva Convention, correspondence could pass through the ICRC (Red Cross). My wife wrote an appeal there, but received no response. Something does not fully work in this system with the correspondence of prisoners of war.
— I passed a fairly long polygraph test, which revealed my attitude towards Russia, the degree of my involvement in the Ukrainian armed forces and various other issues relating to my stay in Ukraine.
The polygraph confirmed that I am a patriot of Russia, neither I did not participate in any events against my country, but simply lived in Ukraine due to family circumstances.
During multiple interrogations and verification activities, investigators found out every little detail regarding the period of my stay in Ukraine. By the end of October 2022, all answers were received from the FSB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Investigative Committee and the Ministry of Defense of Russia that there were no complaints against me. I was summoned for questioning, where I signed a number of documents and was told that they would release me within two weeks.
But “two weeks” turned into nine months. I think that information was still required from Ukraine regarding my commercial activities in this country. Additional checks also confirmed that everything I did was solely in the interests of Russia. During the checks, it was confirmed that in Ukraine a criminal case had indeed been opened against me, which had signs of persecution specifically in connection with my Russian citizenship. Based on the results of all the checks, I was released home to my family, without any charges or claims being brought.
Alexander Nemchikov in the editorial office of MK
— Yes, of course, I don’t see an alternative for myself. My wife has already brought the children here, they have gone to school, and soon they will also become Russian citizens. I don’t know exactly what I will do yet, but I would like to help the Russian military who are in captivity return home.
I talked a lot with Ukrainian prisoners of war in the pre-trial detention center. Some were aware of how our guys were being kept in Ukraine. According to them, even for them the conditions of detention of captured Russians are inhumane. I was especially shocked by the story about how a Ukrainian military man killed a civilian, also a Ukrainian, whom they had previously captured for some reason along with his wife. At the same time, the wife was previously raped in the presence of her husband.
Thanks to the efforts of the Russian leadership, the Ministry of Defense and the Commissioner for Human Rights Tatyana Moskalkova, several thousand of our soldiers have already returned home, but many more of our citizens remain in captivity in Ukraine . On my initiative, the Law and Order Center organization should join the process of exchanging prisoners of war. I really hope that our joint efforts will help Russian prisoners of war return home to their families.