One of the possible killers of unarmed civilians in Bucha has been identified
Ukrainska Pravda - SATURDAY, 21 MAY 2022, 16:56
CHINGIZ ATANTAYEV IN BUCHA (LEFT) AND A PHOTO OF HIM FROM SOCIAL MEDIA (RIGHT).
Russian investigative journalists have identified one of the possible killers of unarmed civilians in Bucha.
Source : Russian media project Important Stories
Details: The investigators took surveillance camera footage that had been made available to the New York Times. This video recorded the execution of 9 unarmed men in Bucha by several Russian paratroopers at 144 Yablunska Street in Bucha.
A face detection service has established that 37-year-old Russian serviceman Chingiz Atantaev was caught on this video.
Journalists have assembled his biographical details and have established that he was born in Magadan in the Far East, but has been living in Pskov [in the North-West of Russia] in recent years. It is there that the 104th and 234th assault regiments are stationed (military unit numbers 32515 and 74268 respectively).
The journalists involved in the investigation verified that Atantaev had signed into his Instagram and Vkontakte pages, as well as pages related to the army, weapons and martial arts.
Separately, journalists found a lawsuit against the Russian Ministry of Defence that Atantaev had lodged with a court in Pskov, in which he seeks to have his wife's minor daughter recognised as a "family member of someone liable for military service". The lawsuit was filed in order to improve their living conditions - to increase their living space.
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Atantaev last visited his Vkontakte page on 12 April. The journalists working on the investigation called his wife, but she refused to discuss whether her husband might have been in Bucha or to provide his contact details.
She also said that the photos published in the New York Times were "fake" because her husband was "clean-shaven" in them, which supposedly contradicts the theory that he had been in Bucha for a long time.
Read also: Murder at the corner of Vodoprovidna and Yablunska: the massacre in Bucha
Background:
- Reuters conducted its own investigation and found that the torture and killing of civilians in Bucha was carried out by paratroopers from Pskov and soldiers from the Vityaz Regiment, which reports to Viktor Zolotov, a former bodyguard of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
- Journalists from the UK edition of The Guardian had previously established that the Russian occupiers had fired on densely populated neighbourhoods of Bucha using First World War ammunition, which is prohibited for use by international conventions.
- Earlier, the Prosecutor General's Office announced the first suspicion of the commander of a Russian National Guard unit, Sergey Kolotsey. The suspect himself was outraged by the publication of his personal data and the suspicion of his involvement in the mass execution and torture of unarmed people.
- President Volodymyr Zelensky gave assurances that the Ukrainian justice system, together with international investigators, would find everyone involved in the crimes in Bucha, and added that some may not survive to stand trial [but would receive retribution] on the battlefield.
- In April, Putin awarded an honorary "Guards" title to the 64th Brigade from Khabarovsk, which Ukrainian intelligence accuses of organising the mass shooting and torture of civilians in Bucha.
