Two high-profile kidnappings reported in Crimea, including UN envoy

Two high-profile individuals were kidnapped in Crimea on March 5, including a United Nations peace envoy Robert Serry and chief of Ukraine’s border service Mykhailo Kovalev. The kidnappings took place in Simferopol and Yalta.

Serry, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, arrived to Ukraine on March 5 after he was asked by UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson the day before “to travel to Crimea to take stock and evaluate the situation there.”

Ukraine’s foreign ministry said Serry was kidnapped in Crimea’s capital Simferopol. “Serry has just informed us that his car in Simferopol was blocked by unknown people in uniforms and they told him they were under orders to take him to the airport. He refused to go and was seized and is effectivey being held by a group of unknown people as a hostage,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Yevhen Perebyinis said.