The New Voice of Ukraine
Thu, November 2, 2023
Searches were carried out at the sect's cells and the homes of the suspects in several oblasts
Ukraine’s SBU security service and the National Police say they have “neutralized” more than 20 cells linked to the AllatRa pseudo-religious movement in Ukraine – a movement suspected of collaborating with the Russian intelligence services.
The SBU revealed the operation to break up the cells of the movement in a press release issued on Nov. 2.
The investigation revealed that members of the sect, operating under the guise of doing ‘”missionary work,” were allegedly justifying Russia's armed aggression and advocating the Kremlin's concept of establishing a “union of Slavic peoples” under Moscow's leadership.
The suspects established a hierarchical structure and their own “representations” in regional centers across Ukraine, calling on residents to join them.
They used various media platforms, including a YouTube channel with nearly half a million subscribers, and launched their own network of media and social media pages. There, the group called for missile and bomb strikes on civilian infrastructure in cities and promoted Russian propaganda, the SBU said.
Law enforcement officials found out that the leaders of the sect illegally crossed the country’s border in the spring of 2022, using forged documents to evade military registration.
"While staying in one of the European countries, they continued to remotely manage their criminal organization in Ukraine,” the security service said.
“The SBU-conducted investigation confirmed AllatRa’s subversive activities on behalf of the Russian Federation.”
Searches were carried out at the sect's cells and the homes of the suspects in several oblasts, including Kyiv, Lviv, and Dnipropetrovsk, resulting in the seizure of computer equipment, mobile phones, literature, documents, and other evidence of illegal activities.
SBU
SBU
The leadership and members of AllatRa are now awaiting charges under multiple articles of the Ukrainian Criminal Code. These include charges related to treason, creating or leading a criminal organization, participating in it, propagating the communist totalitarian regime, and justifying or denying Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine.
SBU
Convictions under these charges could lead to sentences of up to 15 years or even life imprisonment with property confiscation.
SBU
Although the AllatRa movement presents itself as a non-political and non-religious public association, it has frequently been referred to as a sect associated with the “Russian World.”
SBU
Read also: SBU breaks up group of FSB agents helping Russians target central heating infrastructure in Kyiv
“Russian World” is a propaganda term and concept used by the Kremlin to justify Moscow’s imperialistic claims to areas of other countries where there are Russian-speaking populations.
AllatRa is accused of spreading conspiracy theories and Russian propaganda. The movement first emerged in Ukraine in the early 2010s and later expanded into Russia, Moldova, the United States, and EU countries.
The sect drew attention again when allegations were made that former SBU chief Ivan Bakanov and Oleh Kulinich, the former head of the SBU's Main Directorate in Crimea, who is facing charges of treason, were members of AllatRa.
Searches of pro-Russian religious sect AllatRa underway across Ukraine
Ukrainska Pravda
Wed, November 1, 2023
Ukraine's Security Service (SSU) and the National Police (NPU) have been carrying out searches of AllatRa, a pro-Russian religious sect, across Ukraine on Wednesday, 1 November.
Source: Ukrainska Pravda’s sources in law enforcement agencies
Quote: "The SSU and the NPU are currently conducting large-scale searches of Allatra sect members across Ukraine."
Details: Sources say this pseudo-religious organisation has been acting in the interests of the Russians and is systematically promoting Kremlin narratives in Ukrainian society.
Details of the searches have not yet been disclosed.
For reference: According to data from open sources, AllatRa is an international public movement founded in Ukraine in 2011, which is "considered in some places to be a new religious movement and an occult sect". The activity of participants in the organisation's projects can be observed in most countries of the world.
On 8 August 2023, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation recognised the activities of this religious movement as undesirable in Russia.
The AllatRa movement has been repeatedly criticised for its pro-Russian views. According to the authors of the publication on the Slovo I Dilo (Word and Deed) website, one of the leaders of the movement was Oleh Kulinich, Head of the SSU in Crimea, accused of high treason against Ukraine in favour of Russia. The former head of the SSU, Ivan Bakanov, was also considered to be a member of the sect. There is no official confirmation of this.
The New Voice of Ukraine
Thu, November 2, 2023
Journalists record the consequences of the shelling of Kyiv by Russian occupiers
Since the beginning of Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine in 2014, 75 journalists have lost their lives in Ukraine, the Institute of Mass Information (IMI) reported on Nov. 2.
Russia’s war against Ukraine has been marked by a disturbing pattern of crimes against journalists and the systematic erosion of independent journalism in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories, said Kateryna Dyachuk, the head of the Freedom of Speech Monitoring Department at IMI.
Read also: Gongadze Prize creates project to commemorate journalists killed by Russia
This alarming trend has persisted even in the aftermath of the full-scale invasion in 2022, spreading its impact to areas under Ukrainian government jurisdiction, she said.
“Murders, kidnappings, threats, and arrests of media representatives are just a small part of the crimes committed by Russian occupiers against the media,” Dyachuk said.
According to the institute’s data, before the full-scale invasion from 2014 to 2022, seven journalists were killed in Ukraine. Three of them died while performing journalistic assignments, and four as participants in combat operations. All of them lost their lives in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
Read also: Civilian killed and Italian journalist injured by Russian shelling in Ukraine
Since Russia’s wide-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, the institute claims that Russia has killed 68 journalists. Ten died while carrying out their professional duties, while 58 perished as participants in combat operations or due to Russian shelling and torture. Of these, 45 lost their lives as participants in combat operations, and 13 due to Russian shelling or torture.
IMI does not document the deaths of representatives of Russian propaganda resources on the occupied territories of Ukraine, as they are not engaged in journalistic activities, but rather provide informational support to military aggression.
Additionally, all of them enter the territory of Ukraine illegally, as mentioned in the report
Nate Ostiller, The Kyiv Independent news desk
Thu, November 2, 2023
Ukraine's National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) added Nestle to its list of "international sponsors of war," for its continued business in Russia, the agency's press service announced on Nov. 2.
Swiss-owned Nestle is the largest publicly owned food company in the world, doing business in 187 countries. It produces a large variety of food products and has more than 2,000 brands within its company portfolio.
As of 2022, the NACP said that Nestle had seven factories operating in Russia that employed 7,000 people. The Russian market accounted for around 2% of its global revenue. Nestle has yet to release financial numbers for 2022, which the NACP alleged was an attempt to escape from international pressure.
Nestle previously announced in March 2022 that it would halt its operations in Russia- with the caveat that it would continue to provide the country with "essential products" such as baby formula.
However, the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) reported in February 2023 that Russian markets were still full of typical Nestle products, such as "Nescafe, Bystrow brand breakfast cereals, Maggi soups and bouillon cubes, Purina pet food, pralines, and chocolate bars."
In addition, the NACP alleged that Nestle has continued to covertly import technical equipment into Russia to "further develop its business" there.
An undated statement on Nestle's website declares that the company "stand(s) with the people of Ukraine and our 5,500 employees there. To date, Nestle has delivered more than CHF 20 million ($22 million) in product and monetary contributions to local humanitarian organizations in Ukraine and to help those displaced by the war in neighboring countries."
It also added that Nestle has "drastically reduced our portfolio in Russia" and "halted non-essential imports and exports into and out of Russia."
The "international sponsor of war" title is designed to be "a powerful reputational tool," the NACP explains on its website.
The NACP aims to encourage the exit of international business from Russia, reducing the country's "financial and technological ability to kill Ukrainians."
It has added numerous well-known Western businesses to the list, including PepsiCO, Bacardi, Mars, Proctor & Gamble, and many others.
Nate Ostiller
Thu, November 2, 2023 at 7:30 AM MDT·1 min read
The International Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that Russia must pay $267 million in damages to DTEK, Ukraine's largest private energy company, the company announced on Nov. 2.
The payment is in compensation for assets in Crimea that Russia seized from the company when it illegally annexed the peninsula in 2014.
DTEK previously owned the Crimean subsidiary DTEK Krymenergo, which provided more than 80% of the power to Crimea, but it was unlawfully taken over by Russian forces following the annexation.
The legal battle against the Russian government has been ongoing since 2017.
"Today's decision marks another milestone in holding Russia accountable for its expropriation of Ukrainian investments in Crimea," said Marni Cheek, a partner at Covington & Burling LLP, who represented DTEK in the case.
The $267 million payment includes interest and court costs.
DTEK said that it plans to immediately begin the process of executing the decision and recouping its award on the "territory where Russian assets are located," but it is unclear how the ruling will be enforced, and how DTEK will receive the award.
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