We shared a tweet on this story earlier. Here's a report from our news desk:
Student Says FSB Beat Him For Displaying Ukrainian Flag At Russia Rally
MOSCOW -- A postgraduate student at Moscow State University (MGU) says he was beaten and interrogated by the Federal Security Service (FSB) after he exposed a makeshift Ukrainian flag on the third anniversary of Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
The student of MGU's history department, who introduced himself as Farukh, told RFE/RL on March 21 that he was taken to a nearby police station, where he was beaten and questioned for two hours by men who said things suggesting they were FSB officers.
He said he was then forced to write a statement agreeing to work as an FSB informer.
According to Farukh, the officers threatened that he would be expelled from the university unless he signed the agreement.
The Moscow radio station Govorit Moskva, however, cited a duty officer at the police station as saying that no such incident had occurred there.
The flag-displaying incident happened on March 18 during a concert marking the third anniversary of Crimea's annexation by Russia. The concert on the university grounds was attended by hundreds of thousands people.
Farukh said he waved the Ukrainian flag from his dormitory window to protest the amount of state money that was spent for the celebration while dilapidated student accommodations have been neglected for decades.
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council:
Ukraine's Central Bank Revises Down GDP Outlook As Blockade Hits
Ukraine's central bank said on March 21 that a blockade of the part of the country controlled by Russia-backed separatists will hit the country’s economy harder than previously expected.
Just two days after the International Monetary Fund postponed a review of the disbursement of a new $1 billion loan to Ukraine pending further information on the effects of the blockade, the central bank said output will rise 1.9 percent in 2017, well below an earlier forecast of 2.8 percent growth.
On March 15, Kyiv announced the suspension of all cargo traffic with separatist-held areas of eastern Ukraine, essentially putting a blockade launched by activists in January under state control.
The blockade cuts off the supply of coal and steel that industrial enterprises were still purchasing from territory controlled by Russia-backed separatists whose 3-year-old war against government forces has killed more than 9,900 people.
In response to the blockade, the separatists have seized control of some businesses registered in Ukraine and demanded they pay "taxes" to them rather than the federal authorities.
The $1 billion loan was to be the next installment of a $17.5 billion IMF package, which has been hit by repeated delays over Kyiv's inconsistent record on reforms.