Russian opposition published an investigation of Nemtsov about the war in the Donbass

Russian oppositionists published an investigation by Nemtsov about the war in the Donbas. Photo: facebook.com/yashin.ilya

A group of opposition activists and journalists led by Ilya Yashin completed work on a report on the participation of Russian soldiers in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, who did not finish Boris Nemtsov, who died on the night of February 28 in the center of Moscow. The report is called “Putin. War".

A few days before the murder, February 25, Nemtsov appealed to Yashin for help in gathering information. Immediately after the death of Nemtsov, Yashin told Radio Liberty that he considers it his duty to complete the work begun by his friend.

On the eve of the presentation of the report, Yashin said that many printing houses refused to print it under pressure from the authorities. However, the politician expressed confidence that this problem can be overcome, as has been done more than once in the past.

Boris Nemtsov was engaged in collecting evidence that on the side of the separatists in Ukraine, Russian military units are fighting. He also interviewed relatives of soldiers killed in eastern Ukraine. After uBeysmstvo Nemtsov police raided his apartment, confiscating computers and other media. At the same time, as Yashin says, a part of the archive collected by Nemtsov disappeared.

The first week after Nemtsov’s death, the group, led by Yashin, restored the lost documents. We also know about a note written in Nemtsov’s handwriting and handed to his assistant Olga Shorina. It says: “Paratroopers from Ivanovo contacted me. 17 killed. The paratroopers are not paid their money, but now they are afraid to speak up.” Apparently, Nemtsov wrote it out of fear that he was being monitored and his conversations were being monitored.

According to Yashin, his team managed to contact those who communicated with Nemtsov, but these people categorically refused to publicly confirm the information they reported, which, as the opposition politician emphasizes, was “very important and specific.”

Yashin adds that Nemtsov's murder forced those with whom he interacted to be even more careful. “The wall of fear seemed to be our biggest problem,” said Yashin, who repeatedly tried to convince his interlocutors that speaking publicly would protect themselves rather than make their situation worse.

Place of presentation of the report “Putin. War" is the headquarters of the RPR-PARNAS party, co-chaired by Boris Nemtsov. Most of the information in this document is collected from open sources, as well as in Nemtsov’s eight previous reports - on corruption in power and on the preparation of the Olympic Games in Sochi.

A well-known journalist and correspondent for the Kommersant newspaper participated in the preparation of the report.Ilya Barabanov, author of many reports from the Ukrainian conflict zone, as well as chairman of the Pskov branch of the Yabloko party Lev Schlosberg, who was severely beaten after he published information about the secret funeral of paratroopers who died in Ukraine.

According to Yashin, the first edition of the report is 3, thousands of copies. The report will also be posted on the Internet. Yashin plans to start raising funds for the publication of additional circulation, although practice shows that the distribution of such materials faces very serious difficulties. For example, in 2010, the police detained a truck in which 100 had thousands of copies of a corruption report during the first 10 years of Vladimir Putin’s tenure, co-authored by Boris Nemtsov. The site where the report was posted was subjected to cyber attacks.

Despite the fact that polls show support for Putin’s policies in Ukraine from the majority of the Russian population, Yashin is confident that the report “Putin. War" will produce an impressive effect. “We understand that we are hitting where it hurts,” says the politician. – Our goal is to expose the lies. They say there are no Russian troops in Ukraine. We say that there is. It is always very unpleasant for Putin to be caught in a lie.”

Putin himself said that Russian regular troops are not in Ukraine during the so-called direct line in April. Previously, he also claimed that there were no Russian troops in Crimea, but later he actually admitted that he had lied, publicly confirming that the so-called “polite green men” who appeared on the peninsula in February 2014 were Russian soldiers. Moscow claims that any Russian troops fighting in Ukraine are “volunteers helping the separatists of their own accord.”

His investigation into the presence of Russian troops on Ukraine conducted and the agency Rider. According to the agency, a tanker from the Kantemirovsky division said that he and his comrades fought in the Donbass, although it was officially believed that they were sent for training in the Rostov region. Some military personnel refused to participate in hostilities. After returning, the agency’s interlocutor and 13 other fighters quit without receiving the promised awards and “fighting” money. The tankman claims that the soldiers did not want to fight, since Russia and Ukraine are not officially at war. In total, Reuters correspondents interviewed five contract workers.

As the agency notes, the military is rarely forced to go to the Donbass by force. And they do not give written orders. But many servicemen are afraid of losing contracts that provide high salaries. In the event of the death of a soldier, his family is promised to pay 5 millions of rubles, reports Reuters, citing data from the investigation.