'They will simply kill my son' — Prominent Ukrainian volunteer claims FSB blackmail, travels to Russia
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Russia's security service (FSB) blackmailed prominent Ukrainian volunteer Mykhailo Puryshev into cooperation, threatening to conscript his son into the Russian army, he claimed on Aug. 17.
"There are two options. The first option is that I am friends with (the FSB), they help my son, they don't touch my son, he is fine. But I am betraying my country and my children. The second option is that I don't cooperate with them, and they will simply kill my son," Puryshev alleged in a post to social media.
The volunteer, a native of occupied Mariupol, has a total of four children, with two living in Russia from a previous marriage and another two living in Ukraine.
"I decided that there is a third option for me. It's just to go there. When I am with them, they can do anything. But my son will live," he said.
In his post to social media, Puryshev recorded himself allegedly speaking to a Russian agent who called from his son's phone and threatened to conscript him if the volunteer did not cooperate.
"You need to prevent your child from joining the (Russian) army. Just imagine... that the guys you are helping now, at one point, will be standing on the opposite side of your son in a trench," an FSB agent allegedly said.
The volunteer later posted a second video with a caption that read "I have arrived in Russia for the sake of my son."
Puryshev is known for his work evacuating Ukrainian civilians from the city of Mariupol in the early days of Russia's war and his continued volunteer work in frontline communities.
