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Ukraine Charges Russian General With Looting Chornobyl Nuclear Plant in 2022

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Vlad Litnarovych
Vlad Litnarovych
Author
Ukraine Charges Russian General With Looting Chornobyl Nuclear Plant in 2022
View of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant with safe confinement on November 4, 2024, in Pripyat, Ukraine. (Source: Getty Images)

Russian Major General Alexei Rtyshchev, Deputy Head of the Russian Army’s Radiation, Chemical, and Biological Defense Forces (RCBD) , has been formally charged in absentia for his role in the looting of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office reported on February 7.

Investigators allege that during the Russian occupation of Chornobyl from February 24 to March 31, 2022, Rtyshchev, then serving as the head of RCBD troops in Russia’s Eastern Military District, participated in the plundering and destruction of property at the nuclear facility.

Additionally, charges were filed against Nikolai Mulyukin, Deputy Director General for Security at Rosatom’s Leading Industrial Technology Research Institute, for his involvement in the seizure and looting of Chornobyl.

Russian Major General Alexei Rtyshchev. (Source: TASS)
Russian Major General Alexei Rtyshchev. (Source: TASS)

According to Ukrainian authorities, Rosatom  employees removed unique radiological laboratories, ionizing radiation sources, nearly 700 computers, 344 service vehicles, and even radiation dosimeters from the site.

Office in Chornobyl stripped by Russian soldiers. (Source: Getty Images)
Office in Chornobyl stripped by Russian soldiers. (Source: Getty Images)

Russian troops also destroyed Chornobyl’s decades-old archives, discarding portions of them in the trash. The looting extended beyond technical equipment—occupying forces reportedly stole everyday items such as computers, kettles, coffee machines, and even silverware from a hotel in Chornobyl.

Alongside other Russian forces, Rtyshchev is also accused of looting the Chornobyl Radiation and Ecological Biosphere Reserve and several local enterprises, including Northern Pushcha, EcoCenter, and the Central Enterprise for Radioactive Waste Management.

The trenches dug by the Russian occupiers in the Red Forest are pictured near the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone after the withdrawal of Russian troops, Kyiv region, northern Ukraine. (Source: Getty Images)
The trenches dug by the Russian occupiers in the Red Forest are pictured near the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone after the withdrawal of Russian troops, Kyiv region, northern Ukraine. (Source: Getty Images)

The damage from the looting is estimated to exceed $25 million.

Earlier, associates of the Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, were removing equipment, metal, and by-products from the Illich Metallurgical Plant in occupied Mariupol, Ukraine.

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The Troops of Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Defense of the Russian Armed Forces are an organization designed to reduce the losses of the Ground Forces and ensure their combat tasks assigned during operations in conditions of radioactive, chemical, and biological contamination, as well as at enhancing their survivability and protection against high-precision and other weapons.

State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom, also known as Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation is a Russian state corporation headquartered in Moscow that specializes in nuclear energy, nuclear non-energy goods, and high-tech products. It was established in 2007 and comprises more than 350 enterprises, including scientific research organizations, a nuclear weapons complex, and the world’s only nuclear icebreaker fleet.