Journalists save the day once again after two Ukrainian girls were rescued out of Russian hands after being brought back to safety. Thousands of miles from home, teenagers Nastia Mitrofanova and Masha Senchuk, were being held captive in Russia. They were there along with thousands of other people who fell under the web of lies the Russians had previously told them before the disastrous events that took place later.
What was only meant to be nothing more than a vacation arranged by Russian authorities: a two-week trip from their then-occupied hometown to a Crimean resort, fatally turned into something much bigger. They were held against their will, pressured to take Russian citizenship, and housed in appalling conditions under close supervision. That was until journalists from (OCCRP’s Ukrainian member center), Slidstvo. Info, found and reached out to the two Ukrainian girls last fall after learning of their struggles and captivity from their social media posts. They told the journalists of how they were “being kept as virtual prisoners far from home” after being tricked into traveling to Crimea.