Ukraine's Security Service collects evidence on war criminal who trains Crimean schoolchildren for war against Ukraine

The Ukrainian Security Service has gathered evidence against war criminal Andrey Popov, 54, the leader of the Society for the Assistance of the Russian Federation's Army, Aviation, and Navy in temporarily occupied Crimea.

Source: Ukraine’s Security Service on Telegram

Details: According to the casefile, the defendant employs a Russian hub for warfare and ideological indoctrination of children, training them for the war against Ukraine.

Within the confines of the occupying institution, children, most of whom are 14 years old, are trained to participate in Russian assault groups as well as to control the aggressor country's attack and reconnaissance drones.

Students also learn how to shoot from various weapons and how to pass mined sections as part of the training.

Russian instructors hold the "courses" on Russian military training grounds and facilities near temporarily occupied Simferopol.

Another aspect of the educational process is the indoctrination of pupils and propaganda of anti-Ukrainian sentiment, according to the Ukrainian security agency.

Popov is now organising another branch of the occupation institution in the temporarily occupied territory of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, as directed by Russian Defence Minister Andrei Belousov.

The defendant frequently reports on the implementation of Moscow's instructions on the Kremlin TV networks Crimea 24 and News of Crimea and Sevastopol.

According to the investigation, the defendant, who lives on the Ukrainian peninsula, supported the aggressor in 2014 and later was given a position in the Russian Federation's occupation administration.

SSU investigators informed Popov in absentia of suspicion under two articles of Ukraine's Criminal Code: Art. 438.1 (war crimes) and Art. 436-2.3 (justification, recognition as legitimate, and denial of Russian Federation's armed aggression against Ukraine).

Comprehensive steps are being implemented to bring him to justice for his crimes against the Ukrainian state.

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