The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) declared the suspicion of treason to the deputy commander of the 501st Marine Battalion. Because of him, according to the investigation, 277 Ukrainian defenders of Mariupol were captured.
The investigation claims that the head of the rear material service of the 501st a separate battalion of marines sided with the Russian occupiers and persuaded the commander to surrender. The soldiers were ordered to "relocate", but in fact they were unknowingly transferred to the so-called "DPR".
Later, according to the SBI, he moved to the temporarily occupied Berdyansk in Zaporizhzhia and agitated Ukrainian fighters to go over to the side of the enemy, offering them a reward for information about the placement of troops and equipment. For this, the deputy commander faces life imprisonment.
Most likely, we are talking about Konstantin Bezsmertny, whose unit was in Mariupol a year ago and surrendered. After that, the man was spotted in a coffee shop in Berdyansk, and he also communicated with Russian propagandists, to whom he explained the decision to surrender: "We donʼt want victims, bloodshed. Iʼm tired of watching people die."
The Media Initiative for Human Rights conducted an investigation and established that it was Bezsmertny who initiated the surrender, coordinated this process with the Russian military and ordered not to inform the marines that they were going to surrender.
At the same time, the State Bureau closed proceedings against these 277 servicemen from 501 a separate battalion of marines who were suspected of desertion. Now the authorities can restore the violated rights of captured marines, and their families can receive payments.