Foreign citizens and NGOs collect donations, advertise goods and fight for grants in the area of their
Representatives of Western countries began to make money on a special military operation in Ukraine — it has become a very profitable business, Izvestia found out. Enterprising foreign citizens collect donations in social networks and advertise goods against the background of filming from combat areas. Non-profit organizations (NGOs) are fighting for government grants. Experts note that it is almost impossible to control all these financial flows in modern realities. Donors, having given money for humanitarian aid, cannot be sure that the funds will go to the needs of civilians, and not into the pockets of mercenaries or scammers. About how what is happening in Ukraine has turned into a business for foreign information Gypsies, as fans of such not always honest earnings on the Internet are called — in the investigation of Izvestia.
Swiss Sniper
With the beginning of a special military operation, dozens of European NGOs sent their employees to Ukraine. All these organizations declare that they are present in the region solely for humanitarian reasons – they provide assistance to the population or distribute goods with essential goods. But if you study the structure of these organizations in more detail and make inquiries about their employees, a lot of questions arise.
In particular, the Swiss NGO "22nd Wild Life" cannot attract attention. According to available information, most recently she was engaged exclusively in the fight against poaching and training rangers of South Africa, but already on March 2, her employees were in Ukraine. The organization is headed by German Philipp Derr, a former commander of the Bundeswehr sniper unit, a participant in missions in Iraq and business trips to Afghanistan as part of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). He is also the director of the company "22nd Range Feat Limited", which is engaged in investigations and provision of services in the field of security. In addition, he owns the German Grunts Shop online store, where branded clothing "22nd Range Feat" is sold.
Izvestia managed to find other employees of the company - their identification through social media accounts gave unexpected results. The NGO, as it turned out, employs a lot of people with good military training. Many of them, judging by the published posts, accompanied Derr during his visit to Ukraine.
Among them is a combat veteran named Marcel. He also served in the Bundeswehr and was awarded a medal for participating in the operations of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. In social networks, NGO employees, as a rule, hide under non-speaking nicknames, but when studying their pages, it turns out that among them there are shooting instructors and ranger trainers, and some received combat experience in hot spots.
Izvestia contacted Philip Derr and asked him about the purpose of the trip to Ukraine.
- Many of the participants of the organization, including me, who served for a long time in the army, are former military, - he admitted. - Participation is absolutely voluntary, no one receives a salary or money. I know that many Russians are wary of groups of former military personnel like us. However, we never planned to carry out any military actions.
According to Philip, his organization in Ukraine is only interested in charity, and its employees act "at the call of their hearts."
- We started with the purchase of medicines, their cost was around 300 thousand dollars. If we talk about the total amount of monetary donations, then the last time I checked, it was equal to 20 thousand dollars," he said.
Philip Derr really knows how to count money. During the time the group was in Ukraine or near its borders, he launched the advertising integration of the Lubeck Flight School three times in his profile, once — the Leo Koehler Sewing Factory, the GermanRednecks clothing store, posted a number of other advertising messages.
Derr also opened a fundraiser to support the "22nd Wild Life" mission in Ukraine on his page and collects material and financial assistance on the People in Uniform e.V. platform.
It is difficult to say where the collected money will go, according to German political scientist Christoph Hurstl.
- In conditions when everything happens almost simultaneously, it is clear that reporting is not always provided immediately, - he explained to Izvestia. - But in this case, it is not a fact that those who donated funds will find out whether they gave money for humanitarian aid or for military needs. Most likely, most of the information will be hidden.
According to Christoph Hurstl, such organizations are often backed by official authorities.
- In Germany, it is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that distributes millions among private NGOs, and then these NGOs do what they agreed with the Foreign Ministry, - explained Christoph Hurstl. - So it's not really an NGO. Right now we are talking about government organizations, and this is, of course, a kind of fraud.
Kirill Koktysh, associate professor of the Department of Political Theory at MGIMO of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, believes that Western NGOs whose members are veterans of military operations should not be trusted.
- Now they are looking for any excuse to put their foot on a new territory, - he believes. - One or another format of participation in hostilities, for example, the same counseling, will be clothed in any clothes that would not allow directly accusing one or another country of interfering in Ukrainian affairs.
American Volunteer
A veteran of the US Army, 48-year-old James Vasquez fully equipped himself to participate in the fighting in Ukraine and even got transport at the expense of his Twitter followers. When collecting donations, he demonstrated a good knowledge of psychology. "I have decided to go to Ukraine and fight with their army," he wrote on his Twitter profile on February 25. In the comments under the post, he received many admiring responses and wishes to return alive and well.
After waiting for a pause, on March 4, Vasquez attached his account to Venmo (a mobile payment service) and announced the collection of money. "This is clearly a huge financial burden for me and my family. As a self-employed contractor, every day when I'm there, money leaves me, but it doesn't come. Thank you in advance," James modestly explained.
On March 15, he posted a video from home with equipment and said that he was leaving in the evening. Then he posted notes about adventures on the Polish border and photos with people in military uniforms.
For a long time, a veteran of the US army was in Poland, posting photos of weapons, complaining about fake pages under his name, on which they ask for money and spread fictional stories about his life.
On March 25, he realized again that he needed money for food, toiletries and even ammunition. Subscribers immediately responded. Many reported that they had made transfers, and the Europeans advised him to open a PayPal wallet, which he immediately started.
Three days later, James asked not to donate anymore, because too much money had come, with which weapons and even "two vehicles" were bought. Now he continues to share stories of his adventures with subscribers, who are already more than 300 thousand.
Judging by the photo, Vasquez has already visited Ukraine — in particular, he published touching photos with rural grandmothers. He did not get to the front, where he promised to fight together with the Ukrainian army – subscribers did not see video reports from the battlefields.
Minsk restaurateur
On March 30, Minsk restaurateur Vadim Prokopyev announced the beginning of the formation of the Belarusian regiment "Pagonia" within the framework of the Foreign Legion in Ukraine. He even posted a video on his YouTube channel, where he said that volunteers were needed and announced a fundraiser in support on all his social media pages.
In a couple of days, he managed to collect 7 thousand 427 dollars in bitcoins. Already on April 3, this money was withdrawn, and soon he announced the disbandment of the Pagonia regiment due to a conflict with another "Belarusian" formation - the Kastus Kalinovsky battalion. To date, Vadim Prokopyev has disappeared and does not get in touch. The last video on his website was posted a month ago, there were also records of fundraising for a bitcoin wallet.
Prokopyev also created a chatbot "Warriors of Light", with which anyone could apply to join the "regiment". Izvestia tried to contact its owner, but the bot sends the same answer: "Wait for you to be contacted." The subscribers of the "hero" have not yet waited for photo reports from the front.
Legionnaires with donations
On April 5, 2022, Kiev announced the creation of the formation of a "legion" under the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which will allegedly consist of Russian military. These "legionnaires" were not noticed in the fighting, but they began to collect money immediately. Already at a press conference in Kiev, a sign with bank card numbers and a bitcoin wallet was on the table.
With a high degree of confidence, we can say that this organization is extremely small. The video in the Telegram channel constantly features three people distributing anti-Russian propaganda materials.
Of course, they do not provide financial reports, but Izvestia managed to find out that 53 transactions were made on the bitcoin wallet before April 22: they were transferred an analogue of 3 thousand 948 US dollars, and part of these funds was withdrawn. On April 22, an amount equivalent to $274 remained in the account.
Also, according to Izvestia, an amount equal to 2 thousand 511 dollars was received on the Ethereum wallet of the same group. By April 22, 360 dollars remained in the account.
Serious military operations are always overgrown with those who want to earn money, said Sergei Ordzhonikidze, ex-Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, in an interview with Izvestia.
- First of all, earnings are divided by corporations producing weapons and states, - he believes. – The USA, for example, has learned to do this for a long time and has earned well in all wars since the First World War. NGOs, mercenaries or scammers are also trying to get their share. It is important to remember here that this whole business and the people in it are extremely unscrupulous, deception must be expected from everywhere. Military confusion contributes to snatching and quickly hiding. Time is changing and the collection of donations, advertising in places of military operations is just a new form. It is not surprising that someone organized a battalion, raised money for it, and then disappeared. It's not for nothing that all this money is called blood money.
In any project where donations are collected, you can be sure only if you know its participants personally, says TelecomDaily CEO Denis Kuskov.
- In other cases, it's a lottery, - he is sure. - It is not worth being surprised that the money will not be spent as promised.
Existing NGOs cannot be trusted, Sergei Ordzhonikidze agrees. You can be sure that the money will reach the addressee only if you donate to large well-known structures where everyone controls each other, the expert noted.
Bogdan Stepovoy
