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Arrest at Mayorske checkpoint, helicopter crash in Chechnya
Summary
A look back at two separate incidents reported on 7 and 8 March 2018, one on the front line in eastern Ukraine and one in Russia's North Caucasus.
What happened on 8 March 2018 at the Mayorske crossing point in eastern Ukraine? Volodymyr Ruban, head of the Centre for the Liberation of Prisoners, was detained there while allegedly trying to transport weapons and ammunition illegally out of the area of the Anti-Terrorist Operation, as Ukraine then described its campaign in the east.
The detention was notable because of his role. Ruban led an organisation devoted to freeing prisoners, and the accusation concerned the unlawful carrying of arms through a checkpoint. No further details of the case were reported on that day.
A separate crash in Chechnya
On 7 March 2018, a day earlier, a Mil Mi-8 helicopter of the Russian Border Guard Service crashed in Chechnya. At least eight people were killed.
The two incidents were unrelated, and nothing reported at the time linked them. Together they mark two days of security-related news in Ukraine and Russia: an arrest at a crossing point along the line of conflict, and a fatal aviation accident in the North Caucasus.
