'From laptops to underwear': Russian soldiers smuggle loot in Ukraine home via Belarus

Russian soldiers have been looting throughout the war in Ukraine. They send huge parcels home via Belarus. Video evidence of this has surfaced. Meduza.

Photo: Shutterstock

In early April, the Belarusian Gayun telegram channel, which has been monitoring military activity in Belarus since February, reported that in Mozyr, Gomel region, the Russian military was sending huge parcels by courier service to Russia. "Belarusian Gayun" suggests that the parcels contain things stolen by Russians in Ukraine. Believing that the Russian military “should be held accountable for the theft and murder of people in Ukraine,” the project published the names and phone numbers of 16 Russians.

The first message about the parcels appeared last Friday, April 1. “Belarusian Gayun” wrote that “near the branch of the Russian express delivery service SDEK in Mozyr, KamAZ trucks of the RF Armed Forces were noticed, from which Russian soldiers were unloading wrapped bales of things.” On the morning of April 2, the channel reported that the soldiers were sending “right now” - this was evident from the broadcast on the site from the department, which was turned off only in the evening.

On the subject: Mass executions, torture, rape: the Russian army staged a massacre in the suburbs of Kyiv

The next day, Belaruski Gayun posted more than three hours of video from this webcam, allegedly showing what happened in the department from about 11:30 to 15:00 on April 2. The video shows that the room is filled with boxes and parcels, and people in military uniforms are packing and, apparently, give the SDEK employee their data. Among the things that are clearly visible are an electric scooter, boxes with air conditioners, bottles of alcohol, car batteries, as well as a bag with the name and logo of the Ukrainian Epicenter shopping centers.

11 out of 16 people sent parcels to Rubtsovsk, a city in the Altai Territory with a population of about 140 people. A military unit of the National Guard is located in this city, and the servicemen from there are participating in the war in Ukraine - in March, local media spoke about the “Sending a Soldier” campaign organized to “support the servicemen of military unit 6720, who are currently participating in a special military operation against denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine. It was also reported about the death of at least one soldier from this unit.

Meduza was able to find several accounts on social networks whose names and place of residence match the data from the list; in most cases they have not been updated for many years. There is no confirmation that these accounts belong to these people.

How many Russian servicemen used the services of the SDEK delivery service in Mozyr, Belaruski Gayun does not report. From the reports of the project, it follows that the Russians have been sending for more than one day, so it is not clear how many people from the list are on the video (both sources appear at least as senders of the electric scooter and air conditioners).

“Belarusian Gayun”, which called the Russian soldiers with the video looters, at the same time reported that military personnel from the Russian Federation are actively shopping in Mozyr stores, purchasing household appliances and cosmetics. According to SDEK employees interviewed by Zerkalo, the Russian military who sent parcels on April 2 explained that equipment was “cheaper to acquire” in Belarus. “When asked whether this equipment was bought in Belarus, we were told that when sending checks, no one asks people. This is not the responsibility of specialists, ”Zerkalo writes.
"Mediazona.Belarus" found the military sending parcels (including an office chair) on broadcasts from the SDEK office in the city of Novozybkov in the Bryansk region.

Gayun's publications were published on the same days as numerous testimonies about the killings of civilians in Bucha and other settlements in the Kiev region, from where Russian troops retreated at the end of March - just to the territory of Belarus. In some statements - in particular, the Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mikhail Fedorov, who spoke about the work to identify war criminals using facial recognition technology - the Russian military, sending huge packages home, was identified with the killers of civilians.

Reports of looting and looting by the Russian military appear throughout the war. In addition to personal testimonies from residents of Ukraine, this is also mentioned in the intercepts of telephone conversations of Russian soldiers published by the Ukrainian authorities. For example, on this recording, a Russian says that his colleagues “are dragging everything with bags”, and he himself “snuffed a little” samples of cosmetics, women's sneakers and clothes - explaining that “a sports family lives here.”

From the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, according to Ukrainian officials, the Russian military took away spare parts, shipping containers, as well as household appliances, sets, and cutlery.

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On April 5, The Guardian newspaper published a report from the town of Trostyanets in the Sumy region, which was under Russian occupation for 30 days. Residents of the city told the correspondent about the widespread robbery - according to them, the Russian military took away things ranging from laptops to underwear. The owner of the beauty salon reported that the soldiers slept in her establishment; after the departure of Russian troops, equipment, furniture, shampoos, light bulbs and decor from the walls disappeared from there.

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