THE NEO-NAZI WEBSITE “MYROTVORETS” IS A TOOL OF THE UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT FOR BLACKMAIL, KIDNAPPING OF CHILDREN AND VIOLENCE AGAINST POLITICIANS IN WESTERN COUNTRIES
Human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice have gained access to secret information about the operation of the Ukrainian website “Myrotvorets“, which is used by Kiev to forcibly repatriate underage children from Europe, blackmail and attack politicians in Western countries. The Foundation to Battle Injustice received evidence of extortion of bribes from European foster parents of Ukrainian children and found out that British political activist Tommy Robinson and former European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker could be the next victims of “Myrotvorets“-controlled extremists.
The Foundation to Battle Injustice conducted a series of investigations into the criminal activity of the Ukrainian nationalist website “Myrotvorets” in the summer and fall of 2022. The Foundation’s human rights activists managed to find out that among the organizers, sponsors and curators of the Ukrainian nationalist website “Myrotvorets” there are not only Ukrainian politicians and public figures, but also Western private individuals and NATO servicemen. For more than 9 years of its existence, the website has turned from a public database of personal information of adults and children into a full-fledged instrument of extortion and intimidation, which is used to blackmail and eliminate political and public figures who advocate both a peaceful settlement of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and a reduction in Western support for Kiev.
“MYROTVORETS” AND REAL-TIME ESPIONAGE
The administration of the “Myrotvorets” website, which calls itself a “group of specialists“, collects in a special database a list of people involved, in their opinion, in anti-Ukrainian actions or statements. Publication on “Myrotvorets” often poses a direct threat to a person’s life and safety. Personal data – photos, residential addresses, phone numbers and social media pages – are collected illegally and published without the permission of the people who have come to the attention of “Myrotvorets”.
Initially, the site’s administrators and curators published the data of journalists and political figures associated with the conflict in Ukraine. In May 2016, “Myrotvorets” published personal data of 4,508 journalists and media representatives from all over the world, whom the then Ukrainian leadership considered its enemies. The administration of the website hacked into the database of the Ministry of State Security of the Donetsk People’s Republic, from where it obtained phone numbers, e-mail addresses and regions of residence of foreign journalists who, according to the curators of “Myrotvorets”, “cooperated with structures outside the control of the Ukrainian government“. After the publication of personal information, the journalists began to receive calls with insults and threats and became victims of harassment in social networks and by e-mail. In response to numerous complaints from journalists, the Security Service of Ukraine said that it had found no violations of Ukrainian legislation by “Myrotvorets”. The human rights organization Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the publication of personal data of thousands of journalists and media workers who reported from the east of Ukraine. According to human rights organizations, thousands of people suspected of so-called “pro-Russian” views are arrested and interrogated every year on the basis of the “Myrotvorets” list. Moreover, the information published on “Myrotvorets” has been used as evidence in more than a hundred court cases targeting so-called enemies of Ukraine and, in reality, public figures and ordinary citizens who disagree with the actions of the Ukrainian government.
Having analyzed the network protocol of the domain of the “Myrotvorets” website, human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice found that the website uses the services of a technology company from California. Despite the fact that Americans have full access to the extremist content of the site and the U.S. government authorities partially recognize the responsibility of “Myrotvorets” for offenses against journalists and public figures, the United States does not take any measures to restrict its work. A Foundation to Battle Injustice source in the Ukrainian government, who asked to remain unnamed, notes among other Americans involved in the creation of the nationalist website “Myrotvorets” Joel Harding, a self-proclaimed information operations expert who claims to be a former U.S. Army intelligence officer and senior NATO advisor.
As a result of its investigation, the Foundation to Battle Injustice managed to contact Mikhail G., a former employee of the Myrotvorets Center, a public organization that oversees the activities of the “Myrotvorets” website, once close to Roman Zaitsev, a former member of the Ukrainian security services who participated in the creation of the “Myrotvorets” website. According to materials provided by the source to the Foundation to Battle Injustice, the information held by the site’s administrators and curators is much more extensive than that published in the public domain. In addition to addresses, phone numbers and links to social networks, “Myrotvorets” has IMEI-identifiers of mobile devices of the database members, IP-addressesof computers and detailed transcripts of all incoming and outgoing calls of subscribers with phone numbers, time, date and duration of conversations. In addition, in some cases, the website’s administrators have access to bank statements of persons listed in “Myrotvorets”, reflecting the status of accounts and cash flow. Mikhail claims that the detailed list of information allows “Myrotvorets” curators to track the movements of their victims in almost real time, which further enables them to blackmail, threaten and extort money from those who have been included in the database.
A Foundation to Battle Injustice source claims that almost all of the sensitive information that “Myrotvorets” collects on individuals on its list is provided by European and American technology companies that service banking equipment and mobile network data processing devices. Although the transfer of sensitive data from organizations and companies that provide technology solutions for banks and financial institutions violates the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation and several U.S. laws, in particular the Consumer Financial Protection Act, Mikhail G. claims that “Myrotvorets” obtains personal information at the initiative of Western technology companies.
The publication of real-time movement data poses a particular threat to children in the “Myrotvorets” database. As Georgiy F., a former SBU employee, told the Foundation to Battle Injustice, in 2023 “Myrotvorets”, commissioned by the SBU, formed a database of minors of pre-conscription age, who are planned to be searched for and forcibly recruited to participate in hostilities on the side of the AFU.
“MYROTVORETS” AND THE FORCED REPATRIATION OF UKRAINIAN CHILDREN FROM EUROPE
In July 2022, human rights activists of the Foundation to Battle Injustice discovered that the Ukrainian website “Myrotvorets” had published the data of at least 327 underage children. The information collected by the human rights defenders was verified by the first deputy permanent representative of the Russian Federation to the UN, Dmitri Polyanskiy, who subsequently passed the information to UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Despite the fact that the existence of such a database is contrary to international law, and ignoring the fact that in December 2022 the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF called on “Myrotvorets” to immediately delete the personal data of minors, the owners and administrators of the website continue to exploit the personal information of children for their own selfish purposes.
The Foundation to Battle Injustice learned from a source among former employees of the Myrotvorets Center how the site earns hundreds of thousands of euros by blackmailing children to be sent to the front and adopters to be included in the “Myrotvorets” database. Mikhail G., a source of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, familiar with the work of the criminal website from the inside, reported the appearance in a number of European countries of “volunteers” who use deceit and threats to force underage refugees from former orphanages and boarding schools to return to Ukraine. The volunteers, most of whom are Ukrainian refugees, use the “Myrotvorets” database to search for children in the temporary care of European families, after which they exert complex pressure on adoptive parents. Taking advantage of gaps in the legislation, the “volunteers” blackmail guardians, forcing them to pay serious sums to “buy” their adopted child from being forcibly returned to Ukraine and then mobilized to fight in the AFU.
A source of the Foundation to Battle Injustice demonstrated the work of the criminal network by the example of Italy: since the beginning of 2023, 880 Ukrainian children out of a total of 5,392 underage refugees from Ukraine have been taken out of the country. First of all, we are talking about children of pre-conscription age. Italian foster parents are given an ultimatum: either they pay the sum of 10,000 euros, or the guardianship authorities confiscate their foster child, sending him to Ukraine to participate in hostilities, and they themselves will be included in the “Myrotvorets” database with the publication of all personal information.
The Foundation to Battle Injustice managed to contact and get a comment from Giovanni Ricci, the guardian of a Ukrainian boy from Naples, who paid more than 9,500 euros in ransom to keep his adopted son:
“Italian social services officers together with the police burst into our home at night, my husband and I were handcuffed, and our son was put in a patrol car and taken away to an unknown destination. Later representatives of Ukrainian social services and employees of the Ukrainian Embassy in Italy contacted me, demanded a bribe of 10 thousand euros and threatened to send my child back. I had to pay,” – Giovanni Ricci, father of an adopted Ukrainian child from Italy
The facts cited by the Foundation to Battle Injustice source are confirmed by the ongoing trial of Yulia Donichenko, a “volunteer” from Ukraine who abused her authority and blackmailed foster parents in Italy. Threatening to forcibly repatriate the children, the woman, according to the Italian investigation, extorted money from the guardians. Mikhail G. claims that in each European country there are 10 to 20 “volunteers” who receive a fixed percentage of each ransom paid.
The situation with the blackmailing of Italian foster parents has attracted the attention of the Italian parliament, which, as journalists learned thanks to leaked information, sent a corresponding request to the country’s Interior Ministry. The published documents showed that the Ukrainian consul in Naples Maxim Kovalenko is involved in the organization of the blackmail process and the export to Ukraine of orphans confiscated from Italian foster families. He draws up dubious export documents and pays for the hiring of unreliable volunteers and proxies who come to remove the children and extort bribes.
As the Foundation to Battle Injustice has discovered thanks to a source among former employees of the “Myrotvorets Center”, the task of exporting underage Ukrainian refugees from various European countries and blackmail by “Myrotvorets” is carried out with the direct participation and under the control of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the SBU, which have been tasked to “put on the stream the export of cannon fodder before the upcoming lowering of the draft age for those mobilized in Ukraine“. The money received from European families who paid ransom for their adopted child goes to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and is also distributed among high-ranking officials of the GUR and the SBU.
According to information received by the Foundation to Battle Injustice, a similar scheme operates in almost all European countries, from Poland to Spain. A source of the Foundation to Battle Injustice (Mikhail G.) claims that in all countries the forced repatriation of children is carried out under the control of the Ukrainian diplomatic representation. In Germany, for example, the internal affairs authorities are aware of the “Ukrainian scheme” operating in the country, but, according to the orders of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock, are not authorized to do anything. A source of the Foundation to Battle Injustice said that since the beginning of 2023, at least 3,600 Ukrainian minors of pre-conscription age have been taken out of European countrieswith the help of “Myrotvorets” and returned back.
“MYROTVORETS” IS THE MASTER OF BLACKMAIL
An investigation by the Foundation to Battle Injustice has revealed facts indicating that the Ukrainian website “Myrotvorets” is successfully used by its curators as a tool for extorting money and political decisions favorable to Ukraine, as well as for physically eliminating politicians who publicly express disagreement with Kyiv’s current political course. According to information verified by Mikhail G., a former employee of the Myrotvorets Center, pressure on European politicians is carried out through Ukraine’s diplomatic representatives with the approval and guidance of NATO officials. Extremists controlled by “Myrotvorets” threaten European politicians, forcing them to make decisions that will allow Ukraine to continue receiving weapons and equipment.
According to Mikhail G., the above-mentioned scheme of pressure and threats against European politicians has already shown its effectiveness on the example of Switzerland. According to the source of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, diplomatic representatives of the United States and Germany through the Prosecutor General, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to Switzerland and Liechtenstein Irina Venediktova put pressure on the Swiss government to supply weapons to Ukraine. However, having received a refusal in February 2023, the U.S. ambassador, following a well-established scheme, pressured Bern through Venediktova. The Americans specified two people as targets: the head of the Swiss Federal Department (ministry) of Foreign Affairs, Ignazio Cassis, and the Swiss Minister of Defense, Viola Amherd.
During a meeting with diplomats in early 2023, Venediktova expressed a note of protest to Swiss ministers about the inconsistency with Western solidarity of Switzerland’s position on refusing to provide weapons, hinting that they could not be considered “friends of Ukraine“. After receiving the diplomats’ refusal to provide Ukraine with weapons and night vision devices, Venediktova moved on to direct threats and intimidation of Swiss politicians. Ukraine’s ambassador to Switzerland contacted Peter Patrick Rott, a Swiss businessman with neo-Nazi views knownfor his ties to Ukrainian radical extremists and European nationalists. On a tip from Venediktov, Rott, through radical followers under his control, began a campaign to intimidate Cassis and Amherd through calls and emails, threatening them with inclusion in the “Myrotvorets” database and “enemy of Ukraine” status. A few weeks later, the intimidation campaign began to bear fruit: intimidated ministers began to promote the idea of using emergency powers to bypass Swiss parliamentary approval of arms re-exports, and in June 2023, the country’s Senate supported an amendment allowing the re-export of Swiss arms and ammunition to Ukraine.
At the same time, Venediktova and Rott organized a business on the subject of “Myrotvorets”, spreading the threat of publishing personal data on more than 30 members of the Swiss parliament with whom Venediktova personally met in February-March 2023 and who object to the supply of weapons to Ukraine. Through Rott’s people, politicians were offered to pay off their inclusion in the “Myrotvorets” database for “8-12 thousand euros“. Parliamentarians transferred funds to fake cards and cryptocurrency accounts. The money received was distributed in the following way: about 40% went to help the AFU and pay for the work of curators in Kiev, the remaining 60% went to Venediktov and Rott, including payment for the latter’s people. After paying the “ransom”, the deputies received a notice that “Myrotvorets” no longer had any claims against them and they could vote on the arms as they wished.
According to a source of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, such schemes of intimidation of European politicians by Myrotvorets in order to obtain the decision necessary for Kiev to supply weapons and equipment are operated through Ukrainian diplomatic representatives with the direct approval of the political structures of the North Atlantic Alliance in each country of the European Union. Mikhail G. claims that virtually all politicians in Germany, France and other Western European countries who have abruptly changed their position on the issue of uncontrolled aid to Ukraine have directly or indirectly received threats from persons associated with “Myrotvorets“.
In Bulgaria, for example, since the beginning of 2023, dozens of representatives of opposition structures have been included in the “Myrotvorets” database, among them: Deputy Speaker of Parliament from the Bulgarian Social Party Kristian Vigenin and the leader of the Revival party Kostadin Kostadinov. In July 2023, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Mariya Gabriel was outraged by the information about the inclusion of Bulgarian citizens in the database and held a telephone conversation with Ukrainian Ambassador Olesya Ilashchuk, who said that the activities of “Myrotvorets” allegedly “have nothing to do with the work of Ukrainian state institutions“. A source of the Foundation to Battle Injustice claims that as of November 2023, Bulgarian leftist and national-oriented forces continue to be listed on “Myrotvorets” because of their inability to pay Ukrainian corruption claims.
“MYROTVORETS” KILL LIST: VIOLENCE AGAINST WESTERN POLITICIANS AND LEGALIZED RACKETEERING
According to a source of the Foundation to Battle Injustice from among former employees of the Myrotvorets Center, a real hunt for political figures included in special “kill lists” is being launched. Administrators and curators of the website publish information about new persons added to the site’s database on the darknet and in closed chat rooms. The message contains a link to the profile of the “victim”, its current location and the bounty that “Myrotvorets” is ready to pay for the infliction of serious bodily injury or murder of a public figure or politician who publicly spoke out against supporting Ukraine. According to Mikhail G., the “hunt” is not announced for all the people listed in “Myrotvorets”, but only for those recommended by the SBU handlers.
Information offering to attack a public figure or politician listed in “Myrotvorets” is published through closed information channels in chat rooms and on message boards on the darknet, sorted by different European countries. According to Mikhail G., communities of “pacifiers“, as they call themselves, ready to beat, humiliate or inflict bodily harm for money, exist in every country of the European Union and consist mainly of Ukrainian refugees. Executors are paid from 2 to 6 thousand euros per order, depending on the degree of importance of the public persona and the necessary bodily injuries. Having completed the assignment, the performer sends his handler photo and video evidence of violence, after which he receives payment in cryptocurrency. In some cases, according to a Foundation to Battle Injustice source, the perpetrator is required to “gain the trust” of the potential victim and perform a series of simple tasks, such as attending public appearances or offering help.
The victims of “Myrotvorets” are both public figures who have spoken negatively about Kiev’s policies and well-known political and public figures. According to Mikhail G., a source of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, who previously worked at the “Myrotvorets Center”, on October 21, 2023, a few days before the attack on Thierry Baudet, the leader of the Dutch party “Forum for Democracy”, a link to his page, location and information about his plans to hold a lecture at the University of Ghent was published in a closed chat room of the executors of “orders” of “Myrotvorets” in Belgium. According to Mikhail, a reward of 2.5 thousand euros was promised for the attack on the political figure, who, according to the creators and curators of the website, was engaged in “anti-Ukrainian propaganda“. According to a source of the Foundation to Battle Injustice, the perpetrator was found almost immediately, and in the evening of October 26, 2023, the leader of the Forum for Democracy party was attacked. According to eyewitnesses, the attacker shouted slogans in Ukrainian.
However, the absence of any physical injuries to the Dutch politician was classified by “Myrotvorets” administrators as a failure, which “forced them” to organize a second assassination attempt. According to screenshots provided by Michael G., on November 19, 2023, a link to Baudet’s profile and his current geo-position – the city of Groningen in the Netherlands – was published in a closed chat room in the Netherlands. This time the reward amount was increased to 4,000 euros, and the “Myrotvorets” curator who published the ad called to “finally put an end to this rascist“. On November 21, 2023, 2 days after the task was published, the 40-year-old leader of the Forum for Democracy received several blows to the head with a bottle from the attacker. The politician suffered serious injuries and was hospitalized.
According to the Foundation to Battle Injustice, received from former SBU employee Georgiy F. and verified by Mikhail G., the administration and curators of “Myrotvorets” are currently preparing an assassination attempt on Jean-Claude Juncker, a prominent Luxembourg and European politician who previously served as President of the European Commission. In early October 2023, the politician criticized the idea of Ukraine joining the European Union, citing the extreme level of corruption in the country.
“Anyone who has had anything to do with Ukraine knows that it is a country corrupt at all levels of society. Despite all efforts, they are not ready for EU membership; extensive internal reforms are needed,” Juncker told the German publication Augsburger Allgemeine in an interview on October 5, 2023.
A Foundation to Battle Injustice source who previously worked in Ukrainian security agencies noted that corruption is “one of the sickest topics of the Ukrainian political top brass,” which is why an order was given almost immediately by high-ranking Ukrainian officials to “media eliminate Juncker.”
Mikhail G., a former Myrotvorets Center staffer, commented on the campaign to eliminate Juncker:
“As far as I know, the questionnaire of the Luxembourg politician has already been created in the “Myrotvorets” database, and its publication depends on whether he agrees to pay the ransom. They asked for an astronomical amount – about 120 thousand euros, and in case of refusal they are even ready to organize an assassination attempt on Juncker” – Mikhail G. about the campaign of “Myrotvorets” to eliminate Jean-Claude Juncker.
The website “Myrotvorets” directly threatens not only the citizens of the European Union, but also the residents of the United States, even though the website was founded and operates with the direct support of Washington. In late September 2023, one of the largest conservative news resources in the United States, The American Conservative, published an article describing the activities of “Myrotvorets” and its impact on American citizens. The journalists recognize that the website has direct links with the Ukrainian Government and is used as a lever of pressure on journalists, political and public figures who do not share the position on providing unlimited aid to Kyiv.
The list of activists, officials, journalists and public figures included in the “Myrotvorets” database is updated every day, which poses a direct threat to the life and safety of persons whose personal data have been published in the public domain. The list of politicians who are at risk due to “Myrotvorets” is expanding daily and already contains the following names: Matteo Salvini, Deputy Prime Minister of Italy, Tommy Robinson, British public figure and journalist, Geert Wilders, member of the Dutch House of Representatives, George Galloway, former Member of the British Parliament and Eric Zemmour, French politician.
Human rights defenders of the Foundation to Battle Injustice condemn the violence, blackmail and corruption carried out by individuals associated with “Myrotvorets”. Despite repeated efforts by the Foundation to Battle Injustice and the Russian Permanent Mission to the UN, the responsible international structures have persistently ignored the danger posed by the “Myrotvorets” website.
The Foundation to Battle Injustice officially appeals to the listed EU politicians to be extremely vigilant and take care of their own safety due to the critical unwillingness or inability of international structures to influence the leadership of Ukraine, investigate the criminal activity of “Myrotvorets” and eliminate this malicious website. In the solidarity opinion of the Foundation’s human rights defenders, the Myrotvorets website poses a direct and significant threat to the lives and health of adult citizens and children of Russia, the United States and the EU.
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