1/ The war in Ukraine is coming home to Russia in the form of a major upsurge in violent crime involving firearms and explosives, and the smuggling of weapons into Russia by serving soldiers. ⬇️ 
2/ Russian government statistics, reported by the independent Russian media outlet Verstka, show that the number of crimes involving explosives are have doubled in a year while those involving firearms have increased by more than a third. Verstka reports:
3/ "Weapons, ammunition, explosives, explosive substances and imitation devices were used illegally 5,546 times in Russia during the first 11 months of 2022. This is a significant increase over the past seven years.
4/ The increase was only higher in 2015, when the prosecutor's office reported 6,300 such offences.
Explosives and explosive devices appear in 289 reported offences. This is an increase of 108% compared to 2021.
Explosives and explosive devices appear in 289 reported offences. This is an increase of 108% compared to 2021.
5/ The increase could be due to numerous arson attacks on military recruitment and administrative buildings with the help of Molotov cocktails and the undermining of railway tracks.
6/ According to statistics from the Prosecutor General's Office, there were four crimes involving explosives in transport last year, while in 2021 there were no such cases at all.
7/ The number of crimes of a terrorist nature, which investigators consider arson attacks on military facilities, has increased by 35.5%, from 575 to 779 cases.
Weapons were used more often than usual, possibly due to an increase in extortion and murder.
Weapons were used more often than usual, possibly due to an increase in extortion and murder.
8/ Last year, there was a 25.3% increase in extortion and a 2.9% increase in murders and attempted murders."
Verstka notes that many such crimes were carried out by soldiers using their service weapons. The smuggling of military weapons has been widespread.
Verstka notes that many such crimes were carried out by soldiers using their service weapons. The smuggling of military weapons has been widespread.
9/ Russia has fairly strict gun control laws. However, Verstka reports, "Since the beginning of the war, at least 42 Russian servicemen have been tried for appropriation, possession, transportation and carrying of weapons, ammunition and explosive devices."
10/ "Russian servicemen take firearms found at the front or keep unused cartridges and grenades. They sneak them into their units in flak jackets, backpacks and sleeping bags, then hide them in a secluded place and take them home with them when they go on leave."
11/ One soldier was found to be carrying four fragmentation grenades, five bullets and a smoke bomb in his backpack, which he claimed to have with him for reasons of "personal safety". Another soldier told police he took an F-1 grenade home to use for fishing.
12/ Other soldiers have smuggled guns, assault rifles and ammunition magazines, which usually came to light when someone informed on them or when they went on drunken rampages involving firearms or explosives.
13/ Several people have been injured or killed in such incidents. Verstka reports on three such cases: "In August, four armed men, including a contract serviceman, attacked Ukrainian refugees in a Smolensk Oblast refugee centre.
14/ In the same month in Rostov-on-Don, a military man shot and killed a taxi driver with a Makarov pistol with whom he had an argument about politics, and in December in Petrozavodsk, another military man killed his wife with a pistol."
15/ As the war drags on, more such incidents are virtually inevitable, especially when large numbers of soldiers affected by PTSD find themselves returning to Russia. /end
Sources:
🔹 t.me/svobodnieslova…
🔹 t.me/svobodnieslova…
Sources:
🔹 t.me/svobodnieslova…
🔹 t.me/svobodnieslova…
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