- Video clips surface to clearly show the proprietor of a Crimea-dependent zoo having many animals from a different zoo.
- The owner of the Crimea zoo promises it was all completed as section of a “humanitarian mission.”
- But Ukraine accused him of theft, with the protection minister tweeting, “Steal a raccoon and die.”
Videos shared on social media look to demonstrate a Russian-Ukrainian businessman having animals from a zoo in Kherson as Russian troops withdrew from the Ukrainian metropolis previous 7 days.
On Sunday, Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian minister of interior affairs, tweeted a online video of a llama remaining loaded on to a car by gentlemen in fatigues. The online video also reveals the businessman, discovered as Oleg Zubkov, grabbing a raccoon by its tail and placing it in a cage.
—Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) November 13, 2022
Zubkov, who calls himself “Lion Guy,” runs a non-public zoo named Taigan Lion Park in Russian-occupied Crimea. He and his assistants produced off with seven raccoons, two female wolves, peacocks, a llama, and a donkey from Kherson, for every The Washington Post.
Zubkov posted the movies on YouTube, but the clips were being taken down on Sunday, according to The Submit. Insider was not able to confirm the place or when the video clips were filmed, or if the other males handling the animals have been Russian.
Zubkov explained Russian-appointed authorities in Crimea organized for him to travel to Kherson to take the animals, for every The Publish.
A number of other films posted on a different YouTube channel, operate by Taigan Lion Park, clearly show the animals arriving at the private zoo as Russian media interviews Zubkov.
“For us, this is a humanitarian mission. These animals do not have any zoological benefit for us. We have our have wolves. We have 75 raccoons,” Zubkov explained in a person of these videos, in accordance to a translation by The Submit.
Zubkov stated he would return the animals to Kherson safely whenever authorities permit him to, for every Radio Cost-free Europe’s Krym.Realii division, which studies on information in Crimea.
Ukraine’s Protection Ministry, having said that, accused Zubkov of theft. He tweeted the clip of Zubkov holding the raccoon, with the caption: “Steal a raccoon and die.”
—Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) November 13, 2022
Zubkov did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
Russian troops have consistently been accused by Ukraine of looting objects from jewellery and cars to washing machines and children’s toys.
In just one situation, the Kremlin-appointed head of the Kherson location claimed that Moscow experienced seized the continues to be of Prince Grigory Aleksandrovich Potemkin, the lover of Catherine the Good, from a crypt in Ukraine.
