The Security Service of Ukraine has documented new crimes committed by Oleksandr Dyachenko – the head of the occupation ‘Union of Crimean Border Guards’ and the ‘Varyag Maritime Training Center’ in the temporarily occupied Simferopol.

As the investigation established, the suspect positions both entities as civil organizations. But in reality, their activities are coordinated by the russian intelligence services to prepare the younger generation for service in the armed forces of the aggressor state.

One of the goals is combat training for young men for subsequent enlistment in the special-purpose units of russia’s naval forces.

At the ‘Varyag’ training bases, students are taught diving, underwater navigation, and specifics of conducting sabotage operations in maritime waters.

Dyachenko’s occupation organizations regularly receive funding from russia in the form of putin’s presidential grants, aimed at spreading the kremlin regime in Crimea.

In early 2023 alone, these pseudo-civil entities received nearly RUB 4.5 million from moscow.

In addition, Dyachenko’s occupation formations received land near Simferopol from the local russian occupation administration for free use to create a new military training complex.

In this way, the ruscists plan to be simultaneously training at least 150 schoolchildren daily at the training base.

To implement this project, the training grounds will feature firing ranges, obstacle courses, and specialised areas for diving training.

Regular personnel from russian military intelligence (‘the GRU’) are being enlisted as instructors to train the teenagers.

Within the walls of the occupation club, its organizers also indoctrinate students with ruscism and justify the full-scale war against Ukraine.

To this end, Dyachenko enlisted two of his subordinates – Daria Gorokhova and Vladimir Graf.

Upon the completion of ‘courses’, the children are issued ‘graduate certificates’, which grant them competitive priority when applying to russian higher military educational institutions.

Based on the evidence, SSU investigators notified Dyachenko, Gorokhova, and Graf in absentia of suspicion under the Articles of the CCU:

• 28.2, 436-2.3 (justification, recognition as lawful, or denial of russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine, and glorification of its participants, committed by a group, by prior conspiracy);
• 28.2, 438.1 (war crimes, committed by a group, by prior conspiracy).

The efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice are ongoing.

The investigation was carried out by the SSU Offices in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and in the Lviv Region under the procedural supervision of the Prosecutor’s Office.