The Russian military made a raccoon stolen from Kherson a profitable symbol of propaganda, and then they quarreled and stole the animal from their own

The retreat of the Russian military from Kherson in the fall of 2022 was separately remembered by looting . They plundered museums, took out the remains of one of the founders of the city of Prince Grigory Potemkin, and also stole animals from the Kherson zoo. The video, on which the owner of the Crimean Taigan Zoo Oleg Zubkov, is enough raccoons in the Kherson zoo by the tails and throws into carrying, the entire Internet flew around.

Unlike all the other raccoons, which Zubkov attached to the Crimean Zoo Taigan, the youngest eventually ended up with the Ivanovo paratroopers. “Important stories”, together with the UA Drone Forces’s volunteer project, were able to establish exactly who drove the raccoon on the front line, made a symbol of Russian propaganda from it, earned a “raccoon from Kherson” on the brand, and then stole the animal with his own. Or saved?

"We saved the raccoon, we will save everyone else!"

“Yes, no one stole me! I evacuated our brother from the Kherson zoo with the landing and went to the Khokhlov nightmare, now from the left bank. While we will equip the positions and put up art. There is a lot of work! I'll show everything tomorrow! And yourself too. Your raccoon from Kherson, ”-such a post was published on November 12, 2022 in the newly created telegram channel“ Raccoon from Kherson ”. On the avatar - a drawing of a raccoon in a Weevehni vest and a blue beret, in the description of the canal - “Saved a raccoon, we will save everyone else!”.

From subsequent posts, it became clear that the “raccoon rescuers and all the others” were military personnel of the 98th Guards Airborne Division from Ivanovo. “Starting with Kherson, he [raccoon] repeats the combat path of the 98th division,” said Mikhail Andronik, a pro-government military correspondent, said in an interview with Lugansk Vesti. At the time of the interview, in the fall of 2023, Khersi (as the military called the raccoon, this is a girl, according to the chip), equipped the house for winter in the matchmaker in the Lugansk region, where Ivanovo paratroopers were transferred. According to Andronik, before that they brought the raccoon with them along the front line.

Judging by the video from the telegram channel “Raccoon from Kherson”, the raccoon really spent a lot of time at the front: in reconnaissance , in a heavy road or on a shooting range at the training ground. Their touring mini-concrete zoo (in Russia they have been banned since 2020 due to cruel treatment of wild animals).

Next to Khersi was always the same serviceman in a mask, he also recorded the majority of video features in the channel. In the credits to his interview with the Vesti Lugansk, it is indicated that his call sign raccoon, and Mikhail Andronik called his name - Roman. “Important Stories” and UA Drone Forces managed to establish the identity of this soldier on his tattoos and on post about his birthday in the channel. This is a 31-year-old Roman Naumov, who was born in the Chuvash Republic, a soldier of the 98th Guards Division of the Airborne Forces.

Naumov calls himself the owner of a raccoon. In December 2022, he went on vacation and took the raccoon from the front with him for a veterinary examination. In the Crimea, veterinarians chipped Herssey and vaccinated. But he did not return to the Crimean Zoo. And although the director of the zoo Oleg Zubkov insisted that he did not steal animals from the Kherson zoo, but saved them from shelling, one of the raccoons still remained in danger and became a symbol of Russian propaganda. And very profitable.

On "Gingerbread" for Herssey

“Thanks for the fact that we have another symbol! A small raccoon from Kherson is doing a big job. Now I get an additional dose of tenderness and pride every day! ” -Elina rejoiced , supposedly the subscriber of the telegram channel “Raccoon from Kherson”, a few days after its creation (punctuation is preserved). Naumov wrote posts on behalf of the raccoon himself, sometimes directly addressing the children: “Strictly for little readers! <...> I will reveal a little secret to you - even the Saaaagi serious and formidable paratroopers wear children's drawings and letters in body armor. Like talismans ... and in difficult minutes they revise and re -read. So, my little readers, you are doing a big job and make your huge contribution to our common victory. ”

According to a survey conducted in the channel, there were more than a thousand minor children among subscribers from Kherson (more than 400 of them under the age of 14). The parents themselves also wrote to the channel that their children were watching him. And in gratitude for their drawings, children with a raccoon were sent to children. To draw “raccoon from Kherson” and write letters of support to the Russian military forced first -graders of the Kemerovo and Oryol regions, and even small patients of the cancer center in Yaroslavl. At the same time, numerous posts with the drawings and messages of children in the channel are published interspersed with a video of the uncensored battles, for example, as the Russian military dump grenades into trenches of the Ukrainian military mounted to cheerful music.

The telegram channel quickly scored 50 thousand subscribers, and the brand “Raccoon from Kherson” began to be used for their own purposes, all who are not lazy: both propagandists and artists. In 2022, in the Melitopol, who was occupied by the Russian army, Khersi was even “accepted” to the university: “[Raccoon] came out of the battles from Kherson and remained with the Russian landing to protect his hometown from the Ukrainian Nazis. He received an application for admission to our university. ”

Almost immediately after the launch of the channel, Roman Naumov began to collect money “on gingerbread” Khersi. On November 23, 2022, Raccoon said that now he has his own Sberbank card and that "everything that will remain after the purchase of gingerbread will go to warm socks to my brothers." Anastasia Anatolyevna was the real owner of the card - the name of Roman Naumova is also called. Two weeks later, a post with a screenshot from Sberbank appeared in the channel, which was received in the amount of 1.2 million rubles on the specified account. The collection continued, from the collected money the military bought everything: from shoes to copter . With a raccoon, they began to produce hoodies, stickerpaces, stickers on cars, badges. In the subsidiary of a telegram, where t-shirts were sold with a raccoon drawings, anatoly Bragin, assistant commander of the 98th Airborne Forces for physical training, published a video message. However, not only the Ivanovo paratroopers wanted to monetize the brand of “Raccoon from Kherson”.

Back in December 2022, Moscow opened the Humanitarian aid collection point “Henot Kherson Bunker and his striped friends”. In the posts of the telegram channel, they called for a military with a marine marine note there. In February 2023, similar "bunkers" opened in Dubna and Ivanovo. The head of the Moscow Center, or the eldest in the bunker, as she was called in the telegram channel, is the reserve lieutenant colonel, the Airborne Forces veteran Irina Kruglova. In the media, it was also mentioned as the “representative of the press service and information of the Russian Ministry of Defense in the airborne troops”, and in the databases flowing into open access, as the main expert of the Department of Information and Mass Communications of the Russian Ministry of Defense.

“In the future, we plan to organize a flight of volunteers. I would like children and families to come to our bunker. Therefore, we plan to organize the center of the young patriot of the country. And also create an exhibition that Russian volunteers do with their own hands: from camouflage networks to unloading, tents, sewing the shape of clothing. All these undertakings can be realized only by common efforts, uniting one fist, and not working, scattered in the form of a “glove”, ”Kruglova told about her plans for the“ raccoon from Kherson ”. However, even fees to the aid of the military did not go into one pocket.

Kruglova created a separate telegram channel , which was originally called "Henot Kherson's bunker." In it, money was collected for personal cards of other people, as well as for cryptocurrencies. In turn, in the “original” channel, although they called for helping the Moscow “bunker”, they reminded that they had their own card.

Legally, the organizer "Bunker of the raccoon Kherson and his striped friends" does not exist. In their presentation, they call themselves a voluntary community of volunteers, who, according to them, managed to send military hospitals and units of the Airborne Forces of humanitarian aid for almost 30 million rubles. They also added that “in addition to collecting humanitarian goods, the“ bunker ”-through media and social networks-is working on the patriotic education of a citizen of his country, the future defender of the homeland, and the formation of positive national-cultural thinking.”

The year of Khersi was taken to the front line and collected to him “gingerbread”. And then the raccoon was stolen again.

"Without our knowledge, he left the zone of his"

“Unfortunately, the Raccoon from Kherson project ends its life with an ordinary betrayal. We do not recommend taking off the funds indicated earlier. Where they will be directed is unknown. If there is a desire to help our guys, we recommend that you do this through the "bunker of the raccoon from Kherson." The eldest on the bunker Irina Evgenievna is a trusted person, a retired Airborne Forces officer who does a huge job, combining a large number of caring people around him. <...> You will still hear about the fate of the stolen Khersi, now, according to our data - he without our knowledge, left the zone of his own. Well, to those who buried the project, God is a judge. The traitors will always be traitors for everyone, ”such a post was published in the“ original ”raccoon telegram channel in October 2023.

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The fate of the twice stolen raccoon became known on the same day. Naumov published a video with him in his new telegram channel called “Raccoon Kherson” (now it has more than 20 thousand subscribers). According to him, he brought the raccoon for examination to Moscow. Later in the channel it was reported that “it was simply unsafe in his Herssey zone. And therefore, the novel, as a raccoon of a raccoon of a raccoon raccoon, moved it to Moscow. And he transferred himself to work in Moscow. ” Judging by the photos with a raccoon by the window, he really lives in an apartment in Moscow.

Herssey no longer needed Gingerbread. For the first time, Naumov said that, it turns out, the raccoon “has a trustee from the very beginning”, which helps in all matters related to Khersi and provides full support. But the Roman continued the gathering to the paratroopers, clarifying that they have nothing to do with their fees, nor to their fees.

Roman Naumov asked “important stories” how we learned information about him, but did not answer further questions. Irina Kruglova asked to call her back later, but did not answer repeated calls.

Zubkov answered “important stories” that all the raccoons, who were taken out by him from the Kherson zougolka, are currently living in the Park of the Lviv Taigan, and he did not give anyone to the Ivanovo paratroopers. Although the clinic in which Khersi was chipped is just half an hour from Lviv Park.

Editor: Ales Marokhov