Alexei Kotov, a citizen of the Russian Federation, filmed a video message where he talks about his time in slavery in the Karaganda region of Kazakhstan. According to him, he voluntarily worked for a local farmer.
Monitoring of Alexei’s social networks helped discover a video in which a man reported that he was illegally held in one of the winter camps in the Karaganda region. In the video, the man introduced himself as Alexei Aleksandrovich Kotov and said that he had previously lived in Yaroslavl Oblast, but that he had been in slavery for 20 years. Kotov made a video to ask his parents to help him get out of Kazakhstan. In order to verify all the circumstances, employees of the relevant departments of the Russian Embassy in Kazakhstan were sent to the Karaganda region.
“Interrogated in the presence of Russian consular officers, Kotov showed that he was on the territory of the farm and worked voluntarily, used a cell phone and had the ability to leave the farm at any time,” – the police said in their report.
Kotov “refused to make a statement against the owner of the farm, explaining that he had no claims to him, the only purpose of the appeal was to return home. The police said that a criminal case was opened against Kotov, and an operative-investigative group was sent to verify the information.
The Russian embassy in Kazakhstan said that Kotov and embassy employees were seen in Nur-Sultan. According to the data, they are on their way to Moscow, but subsequently Alexey wants to return to the Yaroslavl region.
Kotov’s entire family is waiting for him at home. Alexei’s mother is 70 years old and his father is 80. His parents note that their son was very hardworking compared to other children. But, most importantly, they did not lose hope and believed that their son was alive.
“We believed he was alive and well. Everyone thought that if he had been killed, someone would have told us anyway, so he must be alive. And we were waiting for good news”, – said Nadezhda Alekseevna.
