Videos on Russians' phones show them looting and committing crimes in Kyiv and Kharkiv oblasts
Journalists of the Skhemy investigative project gained access to the mobile phones owned by mercenaries of the Russian so-called Redut private military company. Videos recorded by the occupiers themselves confirm that they committed a number of crimes in Kyiv and Kharkiv oblasts in 2022.
Source: investigation by Skhemy (Radio Liberty) and the Systema project
Details: Mobile phone videos show that during the attempted storming of Kyiv Oblast in February-March 2022, the Russians disguised their military equipment in the yards of local residents, lived in other people's homes, and stole cars and other property of Ukrainians.
The occupiers' videos from August-September in Kharkiv Oblast show how the Redut members are taking local residents for interrogation and torture.
For reference: Redut is actually a covert system of recruiting thousands of Russians for the war against Ukraine. Earlier, journalists published evidence that this armed group is controlled and funded by the GRU (Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff).
Crimes of the Redut members:
In one video, Russian soldiers brag that they have stolen a motorbike; they call it a trophy and offer each other a ride.
In another video, they discuss a Mercedes car belonging to local residents that they had taken for themselves.
The internal documentation of the Russians, to which journalists gained access, as well as the analysis of dozens of Redut mercenaries' phone traffic, helped prove their involvement in the occupation of such villages in Kyiv Oblast as Babyntsi, Klavdiievo-Tarasove and Borodianka in the spring of 2022.
Due to the videos filmed by the Russians, Skhemy was able to identify the exact locations – the houses of local residents where the Redut members were staying.
There, the invaders bragged about looting, drank stolen alcohol, proclaimed "To Victory!", or hid from attacks and camouflaged their equipment.
Local residents told journalists that the Russian criminals took all the property from the houses and motivated their actions by supposedly looking for "Nazis" and "biolabs".
Thanks to the records on the Russians' mobile phones, Skhemy was able not only to restore the timeline of their movement through Ukraine but also to identify those who took part in the combat actions, and identify the personnel and commanders who gave orders.
The journalists also found a video on the phone of one of the Redut mercenaries showing how residents of the village of Borova, Izium district, Kharkiv Oblast, were taken for interrogation and subsequent torture on the order of the commander from the GRU who goes by the alias of Amur.
Later, four mercenaries – Ruslan "Bulat" Kolesnikov, Mikhail "Pokrov" Ivanov, Valentin "Rashid" Bych and Maksim "Escadra" Volvak – were captured by Ukrainian forces. They were later convicted of torturing three civilians in Borova.
They pleaded guilty in court, but in interviews with Skhemy claimed that they were "only following orders". However, the videos show that the Redut mercenaries were happy and enthusiastic to kill Ukrainians and those of them who had already been to war with the Russians. Those mercenaries also described their trips to pick up future torture victims as BlaBlaCar rides because they were "carrying passengers".
Background:
- Earlier, Radio Liberty's Skhemy and Systema projects established that the Russian so-called private military company Redut, whose fighters took part in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine and directly in combat actions in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, was an armed formation controlled and funded by the Russian General Staff's Main Intelligence Directorate.
- Redut is positioned in Russia as a "volunteer" formation, but in fact, it is a covert system of mercenary recruitment for Russian intelligence.
Ukrainska Pravda is the place where you will find the most up-to-date information about everything related to the war in Ukraine. Follow us on Twitter, support us, or become our patron!
