The investigative committee of the russian federation in the occupied territories of Ukraine is massively fabricating "evidence" of the Ukrainian military's guilt in the destruction, deaths, and other consequences of the war. This, in particular, becomes grounds for pseudo-trials against them. On the other hand, the systematic recording of russian war crimes on the territory of Ukraine by law enforcement agencies raises some doubts about its effectiveness. OPORA analysts and a guest talked about this during the weekly online discussion "The Occupied" on Monday, July 18.
OPORA's analyst Anatolii Bondarchuk spoke about the main events that took place in the newly occupied territories of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv regions.
According to him, the occupiers are trying to clean up the pro-Ukrainian environment located in the temporarily occupied territories. They use several methods: 1) they continue kidnapping activists who have a pro-Ukrainian position, torture them, abuse them, force them to sign certain documents and actually start cooperating with the occupiers; 2) they begin to destroy various monuments that are in the occupied territories, for example, the monument to the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred in Kherson; 3) they continue to rename settlements whose names were changed after de-occupation in 2014 or were decommunized; 4) they are trying to distribute russian passports—they are setting up centers where they are trying to issue russian passports to Ukrainian citizens at an accelerated pace; 5) they collect personal data of citizens, exchanging it for various so-called "humanitarian aid" within the framework of the social crisis created by them, in order to later use this data to hold a pseudo-referendum.
"This week there was also a statement regarding the so-called pseudo-referendum. yevgeniy balitskiy, one of the leaders of the so-called occupying power, gauleiter, traitor of Ukraine, noted that such a referendum is planned for the beginning of autumn in the Zaporizhzhia region. And according to him, the Zaporizhzhia region plans to become part of russia, not a separate republic. There is such a statement and we know it was also previously discussed that such a pseudo-referendum could take place on September 11. That is why there is such a warning that the occupiers continue to prepare for the possible holding of such a pseudo-referendum," Anatolii Bondarchuk said.
Another very important aspect, according to the analyst, is that the occupying administrations issued an order to deport residents of the occupied territories for having a pro-Ukrainian position. In fact, they resort to methods used by both the Soviet government and Nazi Germany during World War II.
In addition, the analyst said that the so-called "head of Crimea" in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea had signed a decree on the draft commission for the mobilization of citizens in Crimea. It provides for the creation of the all-Crimean conscription commission and the abolition of its previous members. At the same time, the Crimean military commissar was sent under house arrest on charges of helping servicemen evade duty. In other words, we can say that Crimea is preparing for possible mobilization.
The analyst notes that the persecution of activists who have a pro-Ukrainian position continues. People from Crimea as experienced personnel are sent to various positions in the newly occupied territories to strengthen the occupation administrations.
The analyst also noted that in the newly occupied territories, there was work to launch the so-called "pension fund", where data was collected. Also, in order to control the information field as much as possible, the work of Crimean mobile operators is launched and printed newspapers are published.
Oleksandr Kliuzhev, OPORA's senior analyst, spoke about the trends he observed last week in the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions occupied since 2014.
"russia continues to openly, publicly, without any concealment, trade the lives of prisoners of war. Last week, the representative of the russian occupation administration in Donetsk, Denis Pushylin, continued to do so. We are talking about those foreign volunteers, some of whom, as we know, were already Ukrainian citizens at the time of their capture, and were sentenced by a pseudo-court to the highest degree of punishment. According to the information of the occupiers, they are going through the so-called appeal procedure in pseudo-courts, but last week Pushylin said that the so-called executive bodies of the so-called "DNR" are ready to carry out their work if the appeal for prisoners of war is unsuccessful. And in fact, behind these simple words is russia's calculation that by blackmailing the lives of citizens, it will force someone, either Ukraine or foreign countries whose citizens were volunteers, to contact unrecognized and occupying administrations in this situation. And from the very beginning, in fact, they expect that representatives of foreign countries will respond to such a provocation. And that's why the situation is extremely difficult, taking into account such cynical calculations of the occupying state", Oleksandr Kliuzhev said.
Similarly, according to him, the abduction of Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories continues. This week, the Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, published new information about the removal of orphans from Donetsk to the moscow region. He explained in detail which Conventions russia violates in this way and demands law enforcement agencies to investigate these actions and return Ukrainian children.
"Unfortunately, the intensity of abduction of Ukrainian children is extremely high," Oleksandr Kliuzhev said.
Another high-profile event in the occupied territories was the death of a foreign citizen, an employee of a humanitarian organization, Paul Urey, who was used by the representatives of the occupation administration for their propaganda. They accused him of being a global specialist in military training. The foreign public organization "Presidium Network" reported that he is their employee. He died in prisons controlled by the occupation administration.
"This tragedy is actually caused by the fact that the occupiers kidnap people and abuse them by involving them in propaganda videos, which is, of course, an absolutely unacceptable practice even in wartime," Oleksandr Kliuzhev said.
According to the analyst, the distortion of reality, which is created by the investigative committee of the russian federation (SK RF, is directed not only against Ukrainian servicemen. For example, on the anniversary of the downing of MH17 near Torez, the russians once again filled the information space with false statements about Ukraine's involvement in this.
"Since 2014, when they already occupied part of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, they have actually engaged in such activities on our territories. They declared that they were recording 'war crimes', that they were going to organize some 'trials' against the so-called 'guilty' of these imaginary 'crimes'. But after February 2022, this activity became much more public, it became large-scale, it is carried out in all the territories that have now been captured by russia—from Kherson to Mariupol and Severodonetsk. And in fact, there are several directions of this activity. First, the investigative committee of the russian federation conducts a survey of the destroyed infrastructure in those cities and communities that the russian army destroyed. That is, the whole world knows about the shelling of these cities, for example, Mariupol, but the russian federation systematically says that they inspect the houses that were 'destroyed by the Ukrainian army.' And in this way, they try to present their war crimes as crimes of Ukraine. Well, we cannot be surprised by the cynicism of the russians, but, unfortunately, they do it for something," Oleksandr Kliuzhev said.
After the so-called "DNR" and "LNR" are recognized by russia, they transfer their falsified materials against Ukrainian citizens to the so-called law enforcement agencies of the so-called republics. This suggests that on the basis of these materials pseudo-courts can judge Ukrainian citizens and Ukrainian prisoners of war.
In addition, according to the analyst, in the newly occupied territories of Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson regions, where there are no Ukrainian prisoners of war in prisons, the russians are still systematically working there.
"My hypothesis is that this illegal activity is still being prepared in order to bring them to the so-called "responsibility" under fabricated pretexts, or simply to persecute civilians," Oleksandr Kliuzhev said.
Ruslan Horbenko, People's Deputy, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Human Rights, Deoccupation and Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories, believes that putin's regime in modern russia follows the practices of the bloody regime of the last century and the local power structures.
"In my opinion, in general, putin's russia works according to the Soviet KGB instructions. And they work for the domestic russian audience, the aggressor country, they work for the audience of the temporarily occupied territories and those citizens who remained there. If we consider that in 2014, in parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions that were temporarily captured, there were shellings by the so-called "LNR/DPR troops" in Luhansk and Donetsk. But in the media these attacks were shown that our troops of independent Ukraine were firing in order to turn public opinion against Ukraine. And thirdly, they want to live in their own world, but when they meet at the G20 level or at other platforms where they can hold diplomatic talks, they always want to have falsified materials about the destruction that they supposedly did, but for their investigative actions and according to the information they send to the Ministry of Defense, it was done by our troops," Ruslan Horbenko said.
According to him, the testimonies of the residents of Mariupol who managed to escape from the city make it clear that the Ukrainian military never fired at the residential buildings. But the opposite information picture is created for the russian audience in order to create mass support for this aggression. Also, russian propaganda in the occupied territories for 8 years did a great job and had a great effect.
"The First and Second Army Corps of the so-called 'LNR' and 'DNR' have more than 80,000, of which 40,000 have already died. But in order to set up such a propagandist opinion that people take up arms and Ukrainians go against Ukrainians, something incredible must be done. But they did it," Ruslan Horbenko said.
As for the conviction of prisoners of war, it is possible that they do such propagandistic "investigative work", in particular, for further exchanges. The people's deputy noted that before the exchange we will also judge russian prisoners of war, and after the trial, we will submit these lists for exchange.
He also noted that they spend an enormous amount of money to support the propaganda state machine and compared this approach to Nazi Germany.
In his opinion, we should involve international partners and their law enforcement agencies, which, together with our law enforcement agencies, should record russia's war crimes. Active cooperation with foreigners in this matter will give us the opportunity to be the first to show it not only in our judicial sphere but also on international platforms.
The people's deputy believes that the law enforcement agencies of Ukraine should work more efficiently with the recording of war crimes in the territories where active military operations were just beginning to unfold.
"More than 90 days have passed since they captured Mariupol. And they are now showing these trials to the whole world. And if we did it like in Mariupol as soon as they started destroying Volnovakha and bombarding Mariupol, our law enforcement agencies would record everything and show it to the whole world, then not only the internal users, citizens of the russian federation, would not believe that propaganda, but in general, I think, that the armed forces of the russian federation would no longer believe this," Ruslan Horbenko said.
According to him, the testimonies of people in the occupied territories, who are used to provide "testimony" in fabricated "evidence" of Ukraine's guilt, cannot be taken into account. After all, we cannot know exactly how they are influenced to obtain the necessary testimonies—they are tortured, threatened, forced to starve, etc.
"According to the data of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the data of the National Police of Ukraine, for example, the Main Directorate of Luhansk Oblast and Donetsk Oblast, those people who remain, that's about 5-7%, are waiting for the so-called 'russian world'. In my opinion, this is a very good percentage, if you compare these percentages with 2014. But these people will say what they want. Others who remained, who, for example, had no possibility to evacuate, there was no place to evacuate—they live in such a world of fear. And I think they, too, will just nod at first, and then the propaganda machine will really work, thanks to which people in Luhansk and Donetsk were simply turned into zombies," Ruslan Horbenko said.
The people's deputy claims that neither in Ukraine nor abroad there is the work of law enforcement agencies to record war crimes committed by russia on refugees from the occupied territories. Instead, such work is carried out in the de-occupied territories.
"I know for 100% that both our internal bodies and the involved internal bodies of the partner countries conduct such work regarding the crimes of the russian federation in the Kyiv region, Zhytomyr region, Sumy region, and other liberated territories," Ruslan Horbenko said.
According to him, the second wave of forced mobilization is underway in the occupied territories in the so-called "LNR" and "DNR". Ukraine, for its part, distributed informational materials on how to safely surrender to the Armed Forces of Ukraine in such a situation.
Currently, it is already known about the "zagradotryady" from the russian side of forcibly mobilized people from the occupied territories. But currently such people, in the case of being captured, are used by the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine only to form lists for exchange.
In general, the people's deputy named work with forced migrants in the country and abroad, and humanitarian missions in cooperation with military administrations as the main priorities of the Committee. For citizens of Ukraine who are under occupation, crossing the border without documents has been made easier, because many have lost them. According to him, in particular, the most popular bus "tour" in Donetsk and Luhansk is to get to Europe for 300-400 euros.
"In about 4-5 days, our citizens reach Poland, and there they already cross the Polish-Ukrainian border. And here they receive first aid and also receive documents", Ruslan Horbenko said.
OPORA's analyst Oleksandr Kliuzhev concluded that through the activities of the investigative committee of the russian federation, Putin formed an "evidence base" for contacts with the civilized world.
"In his imagination, the falsification of evidence against Ukraine in Ukrainian cities will lead to the fact that he will be able to justify his actions and say that he is not responsible for the humanitarian crisis and war crimes. In fact, if it didn't look insane, I think there is really a motive behind this activity. It is actually characteristic of these post-Soviet elites, and especially russian elites, to issue pieces of paper, even if the lies are written there, as proof of their position. And there may be a motive to prepare such pseudo-evidence for further discussion with the civilized world. But apart from this practical motive, it seems to me that the Russians are still showing weakness through the activities of this investigative committee. Despite the commission of large-scale aggression and major war crimes, they still understand that the answers to the question 'Who killed thousands of people?"' should be. They should be in russia, should be in the occupied territories, and should be in the civilized world. Their weakness is that they do not want to remain in that situation, when it is clear to everyone who is the killer, who destroyed Mariupol, who, as a result of this destruction, led to deaths and tragedies. And this, in fact, is a kind of compensation for this feeling of vulnerability. Because they see that everyone understands, despite the propaganda, I am sure that the russians themselves understand who is guilty of all these crimes, and they are trying to create an informational noise, an informational space in order to shift this responsibility. And this is not even a manifestation of arrogance, it is a manifestation of weakness and a sense of vulnerability of one's position", Oleksandr Kliuzhev said.
He also notes that these activities of russian federation will lead to massive violations of the rights of prisoners of war. In particular, the meeting of this committee led by its chairman, aleksandr bastrykin, in Kherson, where there were no mass hostilities directly within the city limits, where there are no places of illegal detention of Ukrainian prisoners of war, but the meeting of the committee takes place right there, was particularly indicative. After that, a pseudo-decree of the occupation administrations on the fight against extremism was issued. Thus, according to the analyst, this approach of fabricating pseudo-evidence is going to be transferred from prisoners of war to civilians in all newly occupied territories.
"The problem of proper recording of russian crimes by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies has been raised. This is an extremely important topic. Because our awareness that russia is committing massive war crimes is not enough for all due legal procedures at the international level. We need law enforcement agencies to record every step of the occupier. And if there is concern that our law enforcement agencies did not sufficiently record these steps of the occupier on our land, then it is necessary to listen to this, and conduct an audit, so to speak, of the previous activities of the law enforcement agencies of Ukraine, and if necessary, strengthen this activity," Oleksandr Kliuzhev said.
He also emphasizes that we must constantly demand from our foreign partners not to forget that russia is directly responsible for the committed and future violations of the rights of prisoners of war, and these attempts to stage pseudo-courts in the occupied territories should not mislead anyone.
According to OPORA's analyst Anatolii Bondarchuk, russia is constructing an informational alternative reality.
"in its public discussions, russia changes the center of discussion, it actually moves the issue to another level. And you also need to understand this tactic and try to counter it. Because russia actually has a powerful propaganda machine and is trying to convince everyone that it is right and that the arguments presented by Ukraine, which are objective, are false. We need to understand this and try to somehow really prove with facts and evidence that we are right. And this is also an example of the fact that it is necessary to record crimes, and we should not relax and think that if we know it, then everyone knows it", Anatolii Bondarchuk said.
In his opinion, there is also a risk that russia can manipulatively work to slow down the supply of Western weapons to us by mass fabricating pseudo-evidence of Ukraine's alleged guilt in war crimes.
As a reminder, the Civil Network OPORA helps to collect testimonies about russian war crimes for international courts. You can submit your testimony on the website: https://russiancrime.org/