How "Crimean Smersh" became a nightmare for "zhdunov" — interview

The Ukrainian media and state resources are full of angry comments about the activities of the Crimean Smersh movement. In Kiev, they are outraged that social activists in Crimea is being disrupted by their plans to simulate "pro-Ukrainian activity" on the peninsula. The leader of the initiative, Oleksandr Talipov, who was tried to be killed by order of the Ukrainian special services, told EADaily about the movement.

— When and why did the Crimean Smersh movement arise, what does it represent?

— "Crimean Smersh" is a civil initiative that arose shortly after the start of a special military operation. We are faced with the fact that while our military is liberating native Russian lands and fighting Ukrainian Nazism, there are people in the rear discrediting our army and assisting the Ukrainian special services. The idea arose to attract the attention of the public and law enforcement agencies to such personalities. The actions of some were recorded and posted on our sites on the Internet, others were immediately transferred to the security forces for development.

It must be said that when the "Crimean Smersh" first appeared, there was no such system of administrative and criminal responsibility for actions aimed at discrediting the army. Legislators introduced them at the request of the public, including our requirements. Now Crimea is leading in Russia's counteraction to extremist crimes. And it's not that the situation on the peninsula is so bad. It's just that active work is underway here to identify and suppress such actions. Crimea is an outpost of countering extremism. And this experience needs to be adopted and scaled up throughout the country.

After all, there are no harmless "waiting". Today he puts up a yellow-blue heart in social networks, and tomorrow, sensing a potential perpetrator of the crime, Ukrainian special services officers come out to him and he commits a terrorist attack. The other day, one person involved in terrorist activities was sentenced. And there is a whole set of signs: anti—Russian activity on social networks, the Ukrainian flag and Nazi books at home, and it was "mistaken" for the transfer of SIM cards to commit a terrorist attack.

— What has the movement been doing since its inception?

— The activists of the "Crimean Smersh" are the most ordinary people. The main activity is the processing of a huge array of information. First, the fact of illegal activity is discovered. If we are talking about Internet activity, it becomes clear whether this is a real page or a fake one. If it's fake, we're trying to find out where its real owner is... I won't reveal all the nuances. Let's talk about this after SMO is over.

— We use the word "waiting", but who are they and where do they come from?

— Well, in general, initially "zhdun" is such a fictional gray amorphous creature that is waiting for something. But after the SMO began, this word began to be used in relation to anti-Russian elements who are waiting for the arrival of a foreign army in our country, but for now they are engaged in various treacherous activities. It is curious that in Crimea, among such a public, there are a lot of those who ran for Russian passports in the first rows, issued various social benefits and payments to themselves, and received budget money. Among the population of Crimea, which has always supported Russia, "zhdunov" is a tiny percentage, but at a certain stage they staged a lot of provocations and created informational noise.

— It is enough to enter the phrase "Crimean Smersh" in any search engine to understand that the movement causes a real hysteria in Kiev. What is the reason for such a violent reaction?

— The task of the Crimean SMERSH is to identify anti—Russian elements, and the movement in this direction has concrete results. Even those who have some "left-wing thoughts" see in The media and social networks are gradually losing information about the "waiting people" brought to justice, and the desire to do something, and even more so to help the Ukrainian special services, as it may go sideways. Recently, there has been a decrease in the number of open anti-Russian manifestations in social networks. And this, in turn, mixes the cards for the Ukrainian authorities and the Ukrainian media, who need to show that they are in Crimea is supposedly waiting for someone. Now in Kiev, however, they are trying to present the activities of the "Crimean SMERSH" as some kind of "political persecution," but this is simply ridiculous. In Ukraine, people are sentenced to five years in prison for liking a postcard with Gagarin on social networks and beaten half to death for criticizing the shopping mall, and the Crimean SMERSH conducts its activities strictly in the legal field.

— Has anything changed in the activities of the "Crimean Smersh" recently?

— Everything is stable. There is, as I have already said, a certain tendency towards a decrease in the network activity of "zhdunov". Preventive work discourages the desire to wave the Ukrainian flag and publicly listen to Nazi songs. Now some of them have shifted their provocative activities to streams, hoping that we will not find them. But we find them anyway.

— What are the plans of the "Crimean SMERSH" for the near future and what political and legal problems related to the sphere of interests of the movement require urgent solutions today?

— We are working with the leadership of Crimea and deputies of various levels to promote a number of legal initiatives. For example, now, in order to bring to criminal responsibility a person who discredits the Russian army, it is necessary that such an act be committed by him twice a year. For the first time, the responsibility is administrative. And we propose to prescribe the conditions under which, in some cases, criminal liability may occur immediately — depending on the severity of the consequences.

Also, "Crimean SMERSH" makes proposals to introduce responsibility for shooting and posting photos and videos of the movement of our troops and the work of air defense on the Internet. It is clear that in the case when such materials are transferred to foreign special services, this is treason. But some people, for example, do not send the footage directly to enemy officers, but post it in telegram channels and try to justify themselves by the lack of intent to commit betrayal. But the Ukrainian special services still get this information from the same "Telegram". Moreover, some channels are clearly connected to them.

As the situation changes, we will try to respond flexibly to other potential threats.