by Andrea Marinelli
The conversation between wife and husband, a Russian soldier, recorded by the Ukrainian secret services: traced on the phone, they confirmed their identity but denied that it was about their rumours. Maybe it was a shabby joke, but it has become a symbol of war atrocities
“Go rape Ukrainian women, I allow you, but don’t tell me anything: but don’t forget about protective measures.” This conversation between wife and husband, a Russian soldier involved in Putin’s “special operation,” was reportedly recorded by Ukrainian intelligence services in the Kherson region of the south of the country: a 30second exchange in Russian that seems excessive and improbable , also for an extreme propaganda story, but the protagonists of the disturbing story would have been tracked down by the investigative team formed of journalists from the Russian service of Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty an American governmentfunded broadcaster in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East and by schemes, the investigative team of the Ukrainian service.
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From a source inside Sluzhba bezpeky Ukrayiny — the Sbu that published the conversation on April 12 — reporters obtained the couple’s phone numbers, the same ones they used on the VKontakte social network. From there, it wasn’t difficult to reconstruct, through photos and posts, the lives of the two alleged protagonists of this horrifying story.
His name would be Roman (let’s omit his surname), he’s 27, born in Orel 350 kilometers southwest of Moscow, towards Kharkiv and served in the Dzerzhinsky Division of the National Guard before joining the 108 Novorossiysk, which in 2014 at the annexation of Crimea. Here he would have moved to the coastal town of Feodosiya, together with his wife Olga, also from Orel, with whom he has a 4yearold son. And it was she who “authorized” him, write the Rfl/RL journalists, to rape Ukrainian women: “But don’t tell me anything,” she said with a hint of laughter. “Ah, so I should rape her and not tell you anything: Am I really allowed to do that?” replies her husband. “Yes, you have my permission, but use the protection,” she replies before they both burst out laughing. When they got here, the story still seemed farfetched, but the investigative team dug further and contacted them on the phone.
/ Link in last tweet. “C? Mo, rape Ukrainian women and say nothing. Just don’t? Forget birth control!”. People were shocked by this conversation between the Russian soldier and his wife, which was intercepted by the SBU in the Kherson region. Along with @cxemu we found her. pic.twitter.com/0IPCLnbSxu
Mark Krutov (@kromark) April 15, 2022
“I called them both,” Russian journalist Mark Krutov said on Twitter, “they confirmed their names, their voices matched those that were recorded.” Roman confirmed his identity and admitted being in Sevastopol but argued however, to have been in Cherson and above all to have been the interlocutor. Olga who deleted her profile on VKontakte on April 13 confirmed that her husband is in the Crimean city, is injured and hospitalized, but did not want to answer any further questions and never answered the phone. . “I just hope Roman didn’t have time to take advantage of his wife’s permission,” concludes Krutov. “Maybe it was just a silly joke, but the mass rapes by Russian soldiers in Ukraine are real, there are many horrific reports, some even from the Kherson region.”
Maybe it really was a bad joke, we all hope so, but it certainly became a symbol of the atrocities committed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The first report denouncing the rapes of Moscow soldiers was released by Human Rights Watch on April 3, with others following the withdrawal of Putin’s troops from the Kyiv region, accompanied by statements by local politicians beginning with President Volodymyr Zelensky , and international diplomats. “We still don’t know how often it was used, but it’s clear that (rape) was part of the Russian arsenal,” said British Ambassador to Ukraine Melinda Simmons. “Women were raped in front of their children, girls in front of their families, as a willful act of submission.”
April 17, 2022 (Change April 17, 2022 | 14:36)
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