Aggressors may carry out covert or overt violent abductions of political leaders, civic activists, journalists, and ordinary members of the Indigenous people. In the active phase of a conflict, this technique serves the operational neutralization of defenses by physically eliminating potential organizers of resistance. In the long term, enforced disappearances are used to consolidate the occupation regime, as they create an atmosphere of unpredictable terror and paralyze the society's will to mount systematic protest.
The Russian Empire led the Nokhchi who survived the destruction of an aul away as captives into its own territory. General Yermolov himself writes in his "Notes" that women and children "were taken prisoner numbering up to one hundred and forty"[1], and the imperial historian Potto confirms this[2]. Historian D. A. Khozhaev writes that during the crossing of the captives over the Terek, 46 captured girls, "not wishing to endure abuse in captivity," perished, "dragging their guards with them into the turbulent river"[3].
During the destruction of Uzeni-Yurt on January 10, 1827, Cossacks of the detachment of General Laptev, commander of the left flank of the Caucasian Line, took captive three women from among the fleeing inhabitants. The imperial historian Potto recorded: the Cossacks "seized... three women"[4]. In the summer of 1827, having encircled the population of the aul of Samashki in an ambush during the harvest, the Cossacks of General Engelhardt, commander of the left flank of the Caucasian Line, took captive the families of resistance leaders: the leader Tara-Adzuev and the family of Bakar-Bulatov; Bulatov himself managed to break through the cordon. Potto wrote: "Tara-Adzuev and Bulatov's family they carried off with them"[4].
Historian D. A. Khozhaev writes that by May 18, 1826, «women and children had been taken captive» from the Nokhchi[3]. General Yermolov himself, in a report to Emperor Nicholas I dated May 28, 1826, specified the number: in the surprise attack on the village of Stavna-kul on May 2, «16 souls of both sexes were taken captive», and in the attack on Malaya Ataga on May 16 he «captured 15 souls of both sexes»[5]. The imperial historian Volkonsky confirms the seizure at Stavnokol: the sudden movement «brought us sixteen captives»[6].
At dawn on December 19, 1830, during the seizure of the village of Dzulgai-Yurt, Cossacks of General Velyaminov's detachment captured the family of a resistance leader — the Karabulak chieftain Astemir, who himself managed to escape into the forest. The imperial historian Potto wrote: "his family — a young son, a daughter, a grandson, and a cousin — fell into the hands of the Cossacks. Besides them, thirty-nine people were taken prisoner"[4].
On December 23, 1831, during the devastation of the hamlets near the village of Chertugai, Cossacks of the detachment of Lieutenant Colonel Zass, commander of the Mozdok Cossack Regiment, took three women captive. The imperial historian Volkonsky wrote: Zass "delivered three captive women to the camp"[6].
On September 9, 1832, during the seizure of the village of Tsentoroy in Ichkeria, the column of General Volkhovsky from the detachment of corps commander Rosen took captive a woman from among the residents who had not managed to flee. The imperial historian Volkonsky wrote: "one woman was taken prisoner"[6]. On September 15, near the village of Dungen-yurt, the cavalry of Major Boreysha took captive residents caught while attempting to leave their homes. Rosen reported to Minister of War Chernyshev: the cavalry "managed to take prisoner 4 persons and 1 woman"[7].
On August 23, 1836, during the sudden seizure of the aul of Zandak, the detachment of Colonel Pullo, chief of the Sunzha fortified line, took captive residents who had not managed to escape through the ravines and the forest. Corps commander Rosen reported to the Minister of War: the infantry drove out the defenders, "having taken prisoner 31 souls of male and female sex"[7].
In the course of the extermination of Kishkeroy-Yurt on 28-31 December 1836, Pullo's detachment led away 40 inhabitants into captivity: "40 souls of both sexes were taken captive"[8].
During the annihilation of Lesser Chechnya by Feze's expedition on 23-29 January 1837, the troops led 92 inhabitants away into captivity. The expedition journal, presented by Rozen to Minister of War Chernyshev on 11 February 1837, counts by episode: at the taking of Shalazh-yurt "67 souls were taken captive", at Urus-Martan "13 souls were captured", at Khankharik-Roshnya and Birzul the detachment "took 12 souls captive"[7].
Over Feze's spring tour across Chechnya (February-April 1837), the troops led away dozens of inhabitants into captivity, most of them unarmed. The summary in Rozen's report to Minister of War Chernyshev of 4 March 1837: for 12-22 February "52 souls of inhabitants who did not submit voluntarily were taken captive by our troops, including 8 armed men"[7] - that is, 44 of the 52 captives bore no arms. The report of 23 February on the burning of Seid-yurt and Avtur: "one Chechen and three women who had not managed to get away into the forest" were taken[7]. On the night of 22 March at Gurdali, according to the report of 12 April, Lieutenant Colonel Panteleyev "took captive 9 unsubmissive Chechens"; in the April raid on the Gertli settlement "18 more souls belonging to the families of the brigands were seized"[7].
At the destruction of the aul of Mirti-Irzau on 4-5 November 1840 (an aul on the Sunzha where the inhabitants of Zakan-Yurt and Samashki had resettled) the troops under general Grabbe, commander of the troops of the Caucasus Line (the chain of imperial fortifications on the land of the Nokhchi), led away Chechen families into captivity. The imperial historian Yurov recorded: "We took captive several families of the Terek-side Chechens, numbering 35 souls, and seized 150 head of horned cattle" (Terek-side - the Chechens of the left bank of the Terek)[9]. The captivity of families stands in the imperial account in one line with the driven-off cattle.
Every strike on the auls of Lesser Chechnya (the lowland-piedmont western part of Chechnya) ended with people being carried off. From the massacre of the hamlet of naib Duba (a deputy of Imam Shamil, leader of the highlanders' resistance to the Russian conquest) on 6 March 1847 the detachment, by the record of imperial officer Poltoratsky, "dragged along behind it 9 captives: three toothless old men and six women"[10]. In the raid of 17 February 1850, "54 souls of both sexes" were taken captive[11]; at the crossing of the Sunzha river on 15 September 1851 - 38 captives[11]; at the annihilation of Dakhin-Irzau on 16 November 1851, "24 souls were taken captive"[11]. The count in "souls of both sexes" in the reports is a count of civilians carried off, not fighters.
The forced disappearance of a key functionary of the movement: "on the night of January 15–16, 1994, two armed unknown men burst into the NRU secretariat in Kyiv, took some documents, and searched for Boichyshyn" - Mykhailo Boichyshyn, head of the Rukh secretariat, was never seen again. The investigation was sabotaged: law enforcement "at first was in no hurry to accept the report of the politician's disappearance, and then demonstratively displayed disinterest in solving the crime," and "the investigators were interested not so much in the circumstances of the attack on the Secretariat and Boichyshyn's disappearance as in the party's financing"[12].
Mass unlawful detentions and abductions of civilians in the occupied territories: "armed groups continued to commit abductions, to subject people to physical and psychological torture and ill-treatment," and "people were abducted for ransom, for forced labor, and for exchange for fighters captured by the Ukrainian authorities"[13].