by Lorenzo Nicolao
Not only the soldiers of the Bucha massacre. Kyiv wants to identify all the looters who resold the stolen items to civilians. The launch of the hashtag #russianlooters
Deputy Minister for Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov has decided to use his Twitter profile to publish the names and surnames of Russian soldiers who have been the protagonists of the looting that has ravaged Ukrainian cities in recent days, particularly at massacres like that of Bucha. In fact, the intruders systematically looted the victims’ shops, monuments and apartments in order to capture large quantities of clothing and various items of greater or lesser value, which were to be sent to Belarus, which turned out to be a real source of illegal profit. . Some have sent them to their cities of origin in Russia, others have given them an opportunity to earn and even resold the goods at higher prices because they are considered “trophies of war on enemy territory and something to be proud of”. Because of this, Fedorov, by unspecified technological means, created a real social and media pillory for all the soldiers that led to these lootings. in the a tweet from the deputy minister He wrote: “I want to start the hashtag #russianlooters (Russian looting) after what happened in Bucha. Our technology is able to identify soldiers like Shchebenkov Vadym, who stole more than 100 kg of clothes from Ukrainian families and sent them to Belarus, to his hometown of Chita, 7,000 km away. He had also previously tweeted about how the perpetrators of the Bucha, Irpin and Hostomel massacres had systematically organized sending thousands of these items and garments as if it were a premeditated and well thought out activity.
After the events in Bucha I start the #russian looters Pillar. Our technology finds them all. Shchebenkov Vadym stole more than 100 kg of clothes from UA families and sent them to his hometown of Chita from Mozyr, Belarus. It is 7 thousand km away. pic.twitter.com/ANcc50uqoM
Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) April 7, 2022
The journalistic research
A few days earlier, a group of opposition journalists in Belarus had published the result of an investigation that highlighted the names, surnames and references of many soldiers who carried out this practice during military operations on Ukrainian territory, even after the massacres that took place Ukrainian civilians to whom the escape had failed. The journalistic project, renamed “Belaruski Haiun” and reported by Ukrainian news site Pravda, explained how many of these shipments were even destined for the Siberian city of Rubtsovsk, all goods stolen from victims of the war, but also after Moscow and other cities, weighing more than two tons (including clothing, valuables and personal belongings of civilians). The names of many soldiers are published among the perpetrators of the thefts. Among them, Kovalenko Evgeny Evgenyevich would have sent 450 kg of electronic equipment, both for listening to music and furniture of various kinds, worth more than a thousand euros. Lazarev Artem Petrovich sent 255 kg of spare parts for scooters, motorcycles and maybe cars to Rubtsovsk for hundreds of euros. Third and last example among many, Nikolaev Pavel, who would have sent 205 kg of TVs, monitors, electronic accessories and even an armchair. In most cases, instead of clothes, even sports uniforms of the national team of Ukraine are sold at high prices online because they are remembered as clothes and testimonies of a historical and glorious moment.
The jackal market
On the same subject, the Jerusalem Post published an article about the creation of a real bazaar for all goods looted in the occupied Ukrainian cities. The theme of looting has always been present in the conflicts, but never, as in this case, has the phenomenon been shown to be so systematic and organized, even through ecommerce channels, also judging by what many users write who commented on Deputy’s recent tweets have Minister Federov on this issue. The Ukrainian Secret Service Directorate (GUR) speaks of “costume jewellery, household appliances, washing machines, refrigerators, bicycles, toys and cosmetics, in fact any kind of object is part of the illegal sale, including online, for which the soldier demands payment in euros or dollars. A wellorchestrated convoy system that takes all these items to Russia and Belarus once the goods are packed and boxed.
The reporting page
To deal with this phenomenon, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister not only wants to take advantage of Twitter, but recently opened a website that allows citizens to report the identified perpetrators of the looting. In other cases, it is the government’s artificial intelligence systems that identify the soldiers, as by exploiting the technology, the jackals also make themselves much easier to track down. In the case of electronic devices such as Apple’s, the geolocation function of the device itself has also helped in many cases, a technology that is generally used to locate it in the event of loss. “Many photos and videos, explained Fedorov, “have already gone through an approval process, so we can publish many more names. We will find these criminals one by one. Looting during a conflict was officially prohibited by the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, but it has always been considered a crime based on customary international law.
April 8, 2022 (Change April 8, 2022 | 15:52)
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