OddsFrontInvestigation maps an FSB-controlled system for holding Ukrainian civilians in Crimea
Testimony, documents and satellite analysis connect two Simferopol detention centres to incommunicado confinement and abuse, reinforcing broader UN findings about arbitrary detention in occupied Ukraine.
Two detention centres under scrutiny
A Kyiv Independent investigation published September 11 has mapped how two newer pretrial detention centres in Russian-occupied Crimea allegedly function within a closed system for holding Ukrainian civilians. Reporters interviewed 13 former detainees, obtained testimony from three others through legal representatives, spoke with relatives, and analysed official correspondence, leaked records, documents and satellite imagery.
The investigation centres on SIZO No. 2 and SIZO No. 8 in Simferopol. Former detainees described months without charges, contact with relatives or access to independent lawyers. Witnesses also alleged beatings, electric shocks, stress positions, inadequate medical care and constant illumination in cells. These remain attributed allegations from named and protected sources; Russian authorities have not provided an independently verifiable account answering the full body of findings.
A structure designed to conceal custody
SIZO No. 2 is formally operated by Russia's penitentiary service, but the investigation found testimony indicating that FSB personnel enjoyed special access, including to spaces where surveillance was obscured. Reporters reviewed agency replies in which authorities frequently failed to confirm whether missing civilians were in state custody. That uncertainty left families unable to establish whether relatives were alive, charged or eligible for legal representation.
SIZO No. 8 presents a different institutional link. Russian registry material examined by the publication showed that the facility reported to the federal penitentiary service's central office before authority over several security-related detention centres was transferred to the FSB in March 2026. The investigation identified former FSB investigator Anton Panin as the person likely continuing to direct the Crimean facility, while carefully noting that public records concealed the current command structure.
UN findings establish the wider pattern
The investigation's central allegations align with, but are not replaced by, prior United Nations documentation. A 2025 OHCHR report found that Russia had not established the civilian-internment procedure required by international humanitarian law and documented widespread, systematic torture and ill-treatment of Ukrainian civilian detainees. It also recorded arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances and the absence of effective procedural safeguards.
A June 2026 UN report reaffirmed that Crimea remains Ukrainian territory under international law and described Russian bodies there as occupying authorities. The new reporting adds facility-level detail and potential personnel links to that established pattern. The next questions are whether investigators can corroborate command responsibility, identify more people held at SIZO No. 8 and secure access for lawyers or independent monitors. Without such access, families remain dependent on fragmented records and survivor testimony.