Putin-controlled "volunteers" send Mariupol residents to "filtration" camps – Independent investigative reporters
Photo: Dmitriy Sablin is second from the right Source: Slidstvo.Info
MONDAY, 22 AUGUST 2022, 03:01
Volunteer Сompany ["company", or rota in Russian, here stands for a military unit company, like a brigade or platoon - ed.] and Young Guard, two Russian "volunteering organisations" overseen by Dmitriy Sablin, member of the Russian Duma (Parliament) from Vladimir Putin’s United Russia (Edinaya Rossiya) party, has assisted Russian occupying forces in Mariupol in sending the city’s residents to the so-called "filtration" camps while ostensibly helping to evacuate them.
Source: Slidstvo.Info, an independent Ukrainian investigative journalism outlet
Quote from Slidstvo.Info: "On 30 April, a photo was posted on social media depicting several men in blue and red sweatshirts holding Volunteer Сompany and Young Guard banners against the backdrop of a destroyed building. The caption indicates that the photo was taken in Mariupol. People wearing similar blue [signalling affiliation with Young Guard - ed.] and red [signalling affiliation with Volunteer Сompany - ed.] clothes can be seen in numerous photos and videos from Mariupol which these two organisations have shared on social media."
Details: Slivdstvo.Info reports that Young Guard was founded by Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party. It is in effect the youth wing of the party. In 2018, Young Guard began collaborating with Combat Brotherhood (Boyevoe Bratstvo); Volunteer Company is an arm of Combat Brotherhood. Members of these organisations make out on social media that they are volunteers and share stories of chopping wood, handing out bread and other aid to people as well as assisting with evacuation.
Petro Andriushchenko, Adviser to the Mayor of Mariupol, shared a video in which members of Volunteer Company and Young Guard can be seen alongside Russian military personnel among civilians near a bus. He noted that "Russian military and official volunteers" were preventing civilians from leaving the scene and refusing the [forced Russian] "evacuation". Slidstvo.Info reports that journalists have found a video from 18 April 2022 in which a Young Guard representative warns a senior citizen from Mariupol that if he boards the bus, he will be taken to "filtration" [camp].
Volunteer Company has stated that it has helped to evacuate 150 residents of Mariupol in a month and a half.
Both organisations are overseen by Dmitriy Sablin, a member of the Russian Duma (Parliament) from Vladimir Putin’s United Russia (Edinaya Rossiya) party who was himself born in Mariupol. He is known as a leader of the Russian Anti-Maidan movement [a Russian movement created in 2015 to oppose the change of power, named in memory of the movement of the same name, which fought against Euromaidan in Ukraine - ed.]. Prior to Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, Sablin was forging a reputation as a patron of Mariupol and was an honorary resident of the city. In 2014, he was stripped of this honour for his anti-Ukrainian position. Media reported that in 2019 Sablin became the secretary of the Sevastopol branch of United Russia in Russian-occupied Crimea where he is also said to control several businesses. In particular, a group of companies founded by Sablin owns the Rota Chalet Marina hotel in Sevastopol. Forbes has reported that Sablin is among the top 30 wealthiest Russian government officials and members of parliament.
Slivdstvo.Info writes that Sablin is currently actively reporting his "success" with the rates of employment in Mariupol. In particular, he claims high employment rates in the construction sector. He has attended numerous events in Mariupol [since the city has been occupied by Russia - ed.]; for example, he has accompanied Denis Pushilin, Kremlin-appointed leader of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic".
Andriushchenko said that Sablin and Petro Ivanov, former member of the Party of Regions [a famously pro-Russian Ukrainian political party of the former president Viktor Yanukovych - ed.] have in effect created a "powerful network of agents" in Mariupol. Andriushchenko added that they have de facto orchestrated the "Russian spring" in Mariupol. Ivanov is said to have gone missing from Mariupol during the so-called "Russian spring" and was allegedly spotted two years later in Moscow, while several months ago he was seen in Russian-occupied Mariupol again.
Background: Earlier, Petro Andruishchenko said that the queue for "filtration" to leave the city in Mariupol is over 1,300 people.
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