A copy of the data fell into the hands of journalists. They established the identity of Russian servicemen involved in the commission of war crimes in the Kharkiv region.
During the retreat from Balakliya, Kharkiv region in September 2022, the Russian military lost a flash drive with secret information and personal data of servicemen involved in war crimes. This is stated in investigation project “Schemes”, published on February 7.
Journalists established not only the units of the RF Armed Forces that were in Balakliya during the occupation of the city, but also individual servicemen who mocked the locals.
As the article says, one of the deputy commanders of the “Balakliya” group of troops for political work forgot the electronic media with hundreds of various documents passing under the semi-secret stamp “for official use.” A copy of this data fell into the hands of journalists.
There were at least a hundred different documents on the flash drive.
Thanks to this information, it was possible to identify those who tried to recruit Ukrainians and sought out victims for Russian torture.
Occupiers in Balakleya: who was identified
As part of the investigation, it was possible to identify 46-year-old Colonel Nikolai Klimanov from Voronezh, who is the deputy commander for military-political work of the 11th Army Corps of the Baltic Fleet of the Russian Federation.
Information about Nikolai Klimanov
The command decided to present him for the “Order of Courage” award, since he personally searched for local residents in Balakleya, Savintsy and other settlements who were “negatively disposed” towards Russia. In other words, it was he who determined which of the people would be taken to the infamous torture chambers.
Nikolai Klimanov personally determined which of the local residents would be taken to the torture chambers.
Another Russian military man presented for the award is Vladimir Chernev, 45, the commander of a rifle company in the Lugansk 202nd rifle regiment, which belongs to the Southern Military District of the Russian Federation. Since at least 2018, he has been an adviser to the so-called head of the “LNR”.
In May 2022, Chernev created and led a group of fighters to search for “spotters and saboteurs”, and as a result allegedly found “Azov”.
Vladimir Chernev
The journalists also managed to find out the names of several FSB officers who oversaw war crimes in the Kharkiv region.
The original flash drive is in the administration of the SBU of the Kharkiv region. It is being studied by investigators as part of criminal proceedings under Articles No. 437 (“Planning, preparing, unleashing and waging an aggressive war”) and No. 438 (“Violation of the laws and customs of war”) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Investigation by journalists of the “Schemes” project
Recall that on September 8, the Ukrainian military reported to the Supreme Commander Volodymyr Zelensky about the liberation of the city of Balakliya, Kharkiv region. At the same time, the Kremlin refused to comment on the liberation of the settlement from the Russian occupation forces.
In September Focus in his article, he said that after the liberation of the Kharkiv region, law enforcement officers checked thousands of local residents to see if they collaborated with the Russians, and detained 16 suspects.
