Refugees tell of being forced to strip or witnessing beatings as they seek to enter Russia
By the time it was Olena’s turn for interrogation, she had already spent three weeks cold, hungry and sleeping on the floor. Even so, it was the male Russian officer ordering her to take off her blouse for an inspection that she found the worst indignity of the ordeal fleeing her home in Mariupol, Ukraine.
“Bruises on the shoulders could mean you’re a sniper,” Olena explains from a cafe in Tbilisi, Georgia. She was horrified. “I told him, I’m turning 60 years old this August. How could I be a sniper?” The officer didn’t seem to care. “I’m not wearing my glasses anyway,” he told her. “Take your top off now.”