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Looting by Russian forces during the Russian invasion of Ukraine

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Security camera footage captured in February 2022 showing a group of Russian soldiers sending parcels to Russia from a delivery company offices in Belarus.

Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the media have been publishing eyewitness accounts of military operations in Ukraine about cases of looting by soldiers of the Russian army.[1] International organizations such as Human Rights Watch, as well as Ukrainian, European and Russian independent media and NGOs document and investigate cases of looting and transportation of stolen personal items and industrial equipment to the territory of Russia and Belarus.[2]

History

On the third day of the invasion of Konotop, food stores were looted, there was a video on the Internet in which Russian soldiers took out a safe from a bank in the Kherson region.[3][4]

In March, farmers from Kherson, Cherkasy and Kyiv regions testified that their cars and products were taken from them.[5] From the outskirts of the captured Melitopol, 27 John Deere farming vehicles were stolen - tractors, seeders, combines - each of which costs at least 300 thousand US dollars. Since all the equipment is equipped with GPS navigation systems, the owners managed to track its movement - at the end of April, the cars ended up in the Chechenya village of Zakan-Yurt, however, inoperative, since the anti-theft system allows for remote blocking. According to CNN, Russian military trucks transport wheat to Crimea from Zaporozhye warehouses and Melitopol.[6][7]

In early June, The Washington Post, citing the head of the State Agency of Ukraine for the management of the exclusion zone, Yevgeny Kramarenko, reported that the Russian military caused damage to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that cost Ukraine an amount of more than 135 million US dollars.[8] 698 computers, 344 cars, 1500 dosimeters were stolen or destroyed, as well as almost all fire fighting equipment needed to fight forest fires in the exclusion zone. Part of the equipment, according to GPS sensors, was located on the territory of Belarus.[9]

After returning to their homes, residents of the village of Novy Bykov, Chernihiv region, found that their apartments were looted, household appliances, women's perfumes, electronics, and upholstered furniture were stolen. Residents who remained in the village during the days of the occupation saw how things were loaded into the Ural army trucks. Computers and projectors disappeared from the village school. It was also reported about the looting of the village of Stary Bykov.[10] Mass robberies were recorded in Irpin. One of the local families told The Guardian that all clothes and shoes were stolen from their house, including women's underwear and dresses.[11] Citizens testify that cash, jewelry and simple household items were stolen from their homes, provided by residents of the villages of Grebelki, Velyka Dymerka, Vilkhivki.[12][13] Human Rights Watch staff also documented Ukrainian testimonies of robberies, for example, in the city of Dymer, Kyiv region.[14] Shaun Walker, a journalist of The Guardian, received numerous testimonies from local residents in the city of Trostyanets about the facts of murders and robberies committed during the period of control of the city by Russian troops. For example, the owner of a beauty salon, Daria Sasina, said that her salon was looted, taking all cosmetics, furniture and paintings from the walls.[15] A resident of the Chernihiv region in an interview said that during the retreat, Russian soldiers took the toilet bowl from her house.[16]

The Ukrainian news published recordings of "interceptions" of telephone conversations between Russian soldiers and their families, in which thefts from shops and abandoned apartments are discussed. From one of the recordings, the soldier says that his colleagues “draged bags” of the loot, on the other recording, he receives a list of things that he is asked to bring. The media noted that it is impossible to establish the authenticity of the recordings in wartime, but territoriality, they coincide with the zones that were under Russian occupation.[11][17]

According to the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, a market was opened in the Belarusian city of Narovlya selling items stolen in Ukraine, these include: motorcycles, bicycles, household appliances, toys, furniture, carpets, etc. were sold there. Columns of trucks in the direction of Narovlya were moving from Buryn.[18] Data on the movement of devices lead to robberies - this is available for most Apple gadgets and accessories. Their Ukrainian owners saw by geolocation that things from their apartments were in Russia.[19] In other cases, the geolocation of stolen AirPods was used to track the movement of Russian army units.[20] On April 18, 2022, on the VKontakte social network, user Yuri Zverev posted a question on how to legalize a BMW SUV brought to the Tver region from Ukraine. On April 20, the group was blocked at the request of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation. Later, denying appeared on the Internet from members of the Zverev family, who claimed that his account was hacked and the message was not posted by him.[21]

On May 1, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense claimed that ventilators and other equipment provided since 2014 by international donors and the government of Ukraine had been removed from a hospital in Starobilsk.[22][23]

In May 2022, a refugee from Ukraine, Alina Koreynyuk, identified her property in a photograph circulating on the Internet with a tank filmed in the Popasna area were loaded with civilian belongings. According to Koreynyuk, the photo was taken five minutes away from her house, and the tank recently brought children's sheets with Disney prints, a blanket and tablecloth from a country house, a sealed heating tank, which she recently bought and did not have time to install in the apartment.[24][25][26]

In June 2022, Russian forces stole and/or damaged around 1,000 computers from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant labs and research areas, and stole trucks from the nuclear power plant.[27][28]

In November 2022, during the Russian withdrawal from Kherson, Russian zookeeper Oleg Zubkov stole numerous animals from the Kherson Zoo, including a raccoon that would become known as the Raccoon of Kherson due to its unusual prominence in Russian propaganda. The raccoon was subject to numerous internet memes mocking Russian forces and their looting.[29]

In June 2023 Russian media reported complaints of residents of Belgorod oblast in Russia sent to its governor about Russian troops looting their houses and property in the area after they were dispatched there to reinforce the border protection.[30]

In October 2024 Russian-Chechen general Apti Alaudinov gave an interview in which he openly stated that "everyone was taking them", speaking of theft of farming equipment from the occupied territories. Russian military blogged Mikhail Kalashnikov asked him about reports of "Akhmat" looting but Alaudinov said his unit did not steal anything, because "nobody has stopped us", meaning Russian law enforcement. Both also confirmed widespread looting from the territories of DPR and LPR.[31]

Journalistic investigations

The Mediazona project published an investigation in which it tracked an unusual surge in the growth of parcels from the cities of Armiansk, Boguchar, Valuyka, Dzhankoy, Zheleznogorsk, Klimovo, Klintsy, Mozyr, Novozybkov, Pokrovskoe, Rossosh, Rylskv and Unecha to Russia through the delivery service SDEK coinciding with the start of the war. According to the publication, in three months the military could redirect 58 tons of things in this way. Numerous footage from surveillance cameras inside delivery points, in which people in military uniform brought backpacks with things into the departments and wrapped them in packaging film, got onto the Internet. The largest number of parcels was sent to the Russian cities of Rubtsovsk, Yurga, Chebarkul, Miass, Kyzyl, Chita, Biysk and Borzya.[32] On April 29, 2022, a video was published in which a Russian officer allegedly sent the Orlan-10 drone, which is in service with the Russian army, from the SDEK point in Valuyki.[32][33] The Belarusian Gayun reported that Russian soldiers bought a lot of goods in the shops of the Belarusian Mozyr and also sent them to Russia also with the help of the SDEK service, but this can it only explainws part of the parcels.[17] Against the backdrop of the scandal that arose, SDEK turned off broadcasts from its branches located on the border with Ukraine.[34]

Criminal prosecution

On June 2, the Ukrainian police announced that they had opened criminal cases of looting against ten Russian soldiers from the National Guard unit No. 6720 stationed in Rubtsovsk. The soldiers face up to 12 years in prison.[35]

Russian statements

Representatives of the Russian Foreign Ministry have repeatedly accused the Ukrainian side of filming staged videos of looting by Russian soldiers.[24]

See also

References

  1. ^ Ward, Clarissa; Pleitgen, Frederik; Wedeman, Ben; Cotovio, Vasco; Kottasová, Ivana (2022-04-14). "Atrocities are piling up across Ukraine. CNN witnessed some of the horrors". CNN. Archived from the original on 2023-01-19. Retrieved 2023-01-19.
  2. ^ Engelbrecht, Cora (2022-04-03). "Russia has committed 'apparent war crimes,' Human Rights Watch says". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2023-01-18. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  3. ^ Rahman, Khaleda (2022-02-27). "Videos Show Russian Soldiers Looting Banks and Grocery Stores in Ukraine". Newsweek. Archived from the original on 2023-01-18. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  4. ^ "Ukraine: Russians Pillage Kherson Cultural Institutions". Human Rights Watch. 2022-12-20. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  5. ^ Levitt, Tom; McCullough, Chris (2022-03-16). "'Russian soldiers took over my farm': the battle for food supplies in Ukraine". The Guardian. ISSN 1756-3224. Archived from the original on 2022-05-31. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  6. ^ Lister, Olexsandr Fylyppov,Tim (2022-05-01). "Russians plunder $5M farm vehicles from Ukraine -- to find they've been remotely disabled". CNN. Retrieved 2023-01-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Times, Русская служба The Moscow (2022-05-02). "Россияне вывозят из Украины зерно и сельхозтехнику. Угнанные комбайны обнаружили в Чечне" [Russians export grain and agricultural machinery from Ukraine. Stolen harvesters found in Chechnya]. The Moscow Times (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2022-05-02. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
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  15. ^ Walker, Shaun (2022-04-05). "'Barbarians': Russian troops leave grisly mark on town of Trostianets". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 2022-04-05. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  16. ^ "Российские солдаты украли из украинских домов на Черниговщине унитазы" [Russian soldiers stole toilet bowls from Ukrainian houses in the Chernihiv region]. Charter 97 (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  17. ^ a b "Российских солдат на протяжении всей войны обвиняют в мародерстве. Они отправляют домой огромные посылки через Беларусь" [Russian soldiers have been accused of looting throughout the war. They send huge parcels home via Belarus]. Meduza (in Russian). 2022-04-05. Archived from the original on 2022-06-03. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
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  20. ^ White, Lewis. "Ukraine tracks Russian troops through stolen Apple AirPods". Stealth Optional. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  21. ^ Shepelin, Ilya (2022-04-24). "В тверском паблике спросили, как легализовать в России «трофейный» внедорожник из Украины. Спустя два дня паблик заблокировали" [In the Tver public, they asked how to legalize a “trophy” SUV from Ukraine in Russia. Two days later, the public was blocked]. Meduza (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2022-06-03. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
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  24. ^ a b Greenall, Robert (2022-05-31). "Ukraine war: Refugee from Popasna spots looted possessions on Russian tank". BBC News. Archived from the original on 2022-05-31. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  25. ^ "Беженка из Попасной опознала свои вещи на фотографии российского танка, везущего награбленное" [A refugee from Popasna identified her belongings in a photograph of a Russian tank carrying loot]. Meduza (in Russian). Archived from the original on 2022-06-09. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  26. ^ Ball, Tom. "Ukrainian refugee in UK spots family's possessions on top of Russian tank". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Archived from the original on 2022-06-01. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
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  29. ^ "Russian forces stole art, raccoon, llama as they fled Kherson -Ukraine". The Jerusalem Post. 2022-11-17. Retrieved 2022-11-23.
  30. ^ Times, Русская служба The Moscow (2023-06-15). "Жители Белгородской области пожаловались на мародерство российских военных". Русская служба The Moscow Times (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-06-15.
  31. ^ Denis Kazanskyi (2024-10-28). "Наши солдаты грабили Донбасс, вывозили сельхозтехнику!" Алаудинов сдал Россию! Скандальное интервью. Retrieved 2024-10-29 – via YouTube.
  32. ^ a b "Самая полная карта мародеров. «Медиазона» проследила, как военные за три месяца отправили от границы с Украиной 58 тонн посылок (и один «Орлан»)" [The most complete marauder map. Mediazona tracked how the military sent 58 tons of parcels from the border with Ukraine (and one Orlan) in three months]. Mediazona (in Russian). 2022-05-26. Archived from the original on 2022-06-01. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  33. ^ Strozewski, Zoe (2022-05-26). "Russian Soldiers Looting in Ukraine May Also Be Stealing From Putin: Report". Newsweek. ISSN 0028-9604. OCLC 818916146. Archived from the original on 2022-06-02. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  34. ^ "СДЭК отключил трансляции из отделений на границе с Украиной. Оттуда российские солдаты отправляли огромные посылки" [SDEK turned off broadcasts from offices on the border with Ukraine. From there, Russian soldiers sent huge parcels]. tjournal.ru. 2022-04-07. Archived from the original on 2022-06-03. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
  35. ^ "Война в Украине. 99‑й день" [War in Ukraine. 99th day]. Медиазона (in Russian). 2022-05-01. Archived from the original on 2022-06-02. Retrieved 2023-01-18.
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