Операции под фальшивым флагом

Убийства в Андреевке - 2022

Critical reporting

On June 17, 2024, a Moscow court issued arrest warrants for editor-in-chief Roman Alexandrovich Anin (°1986), founder of the investigative journalism website Важные истории [Vazhniye istoriii or Important Stories, and for journalist Yekaterina Georgievna Fomina (°1992), a contributor to TV Dozhd and Important Stories, and winner of several international journalism awards. Anin and Fomina were accused of «spreading false information» about the Russian armed forces in Ukraine. In August 2022, Fomina published an investigative report and a video in Important Stories about war crimes during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including the massacre of civilians in Butcha and the more northerly village of Andriivka, under the title The Commander Gave the Order: «They Must Be Destroyed».

Роман Александрович Анин

Based on this video, both Anin and Fomina were sentenced on March 31, 2025, to 8.5 years in prison and banned from blogging for 3 years. Since the journalists work in Latvia, the sentence was pronounced in absentia and will be calculated «from the moment of their arrest or deportation to the Russian Federation».

Екатерина Георгиевна Фомина

As part of her investigation, Yekaterina Fomina also interviewed Russian Corporal Daniil Andreevich Frolkin, a mechanic-machinist of the 64th Motorised Rifle Brigade of the 51460th Military Unit, who participated in the Andriivka events. Frolkin was sentenced to 5.5 years of probation by the Chabarovsk Garrison Military Court on charges of «disseminating false information about the Russian Armed Forces».

They Must Be Destroyed

Some terms from the documentary

The holiday of February 23 is also often called Men's Day, by analogy with Women's Day on March 8. Officially it is called the Day of the Defenders of the Fatherland. That day is celebrated for everyone who is or was in military service, both men and women, but especially the men.

Chevron is the French word for fishbone and is often used to denote a herringbone pattern or a zig-zag pattern. It is also known as rank insignia on the sleeves or epaulettes in the army, especially for the enlisted men and the non-commissioned officers.

Moonshine is - still - one of the many home-made alcoholic beverages in Russia. It has the reputation of being the most harmful of them all and is also called the beggar's drink because it costs little to distill.

No figures - Sometimes the regime in Russia unintentionally releases figures - and they are usually very different from what press secretary Dmitry Peskov says. A leaked letter from the Ministry of Finance showed that 361.4 billion rubles had already been paid out to relatives on 26 August 2022. Since 7.3 million rubles are paid for every person killed, at least 48,759 people had already been killed during the first six months of the war. At least, because the missing - to whom no benefits were paid - are not counted. The official figure was 1,352 at the time, a big difference.

Load 200 is the code commonly used in Russia to indicate the load of trucks that repatriate dead bodies from the battlefield.

Contract soldiers - Initially, mainly contract soldiers were sent to the front line by the Russians. They were lured with posters such as: «500,000 rubles (€ 5,295) bonus on behalf of the Khabarovsk Governorate» and «400,000 rubles (€ 4,235) bonus on behalf of the Russian President».

Later, common criminals could avoid prison sentences if they signed up to fight in Ukraine. The decree on mobilisation signed by Vladimir Putin in September 2022 contained a catch for contract soldiers, because their contracts with the Ministry of Defense were immediately considered as indefinite contracts. As long as the war is going on, all Russian soldiers can therefore consider themselves serf.

Плакат о наборе персонала

In the meantime, the bonuses have been significantly increased. On October 24, 3 million rubles (€31,770) were promised for those who would sign in between October 7, 2024 and December 31, 2024. Why October 7, you may ask? Coincidence? Perhaps, or maybe not, considering that Vladimir Putin celebrated his 72nd birthday on that day.

Плакат о наборе персонала 2024