Kozlovskyi survived more than two years in Russian captivity in 2015-2017, being one of the civilians imprisoned by Russian puppet Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics since 2014. He was imprisoned for his pro-Ukrainian position. During his lifetime, he wrote more than 50 books.

On 27 December 2017, Ukraine and Russian-run so-called Luhansk and Donetsk “people’s republics” conducted its largest prisoner exchange since the war broke out in 2014. In total, 73 Ukrainians who have been held hostage in the occupied territories of eastern Ukraine were exchanged for 233 citizens who were detained, tried, or already sentenced in Ukraine. Ihor Kozlovskyi, a historian and scholar of religion, the President of the Center for Religious Studies and International Spiritual Relations, was among those Ukrainians who were released. Before 2014, he taught Religious Studies at Donetsk National Technical University.

In his interview, he described how he felt in the Russian captivity:

“When they were torturing me, when I had a bag over my head, they screamed that they were the “Russian World.” This is a mythological construct, and ideological construct which they have concocted. Nobody knows what this “Russian World,” which they endlessly talk about, even is… Generally, the impression is that they have created their own unique mix of 1937, the 1950s, and the 1970s of the USSR. It is similar to a role-playing game. Only this “role-playing game” concerns human lives and human freedom.“

Read the full interview here:

“They said they would torture my son” – religious scholar released from occupied Donbas