A Russian military blogger claims he was forced to shut down his Telegram channel after unknown people kidnapped his pet raccoon, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said on Monday, according to Sky News.
A military blogger used the animal to gain popularity and help raise funds for the Russian military, a US think tank reported.
According to ISW, the raccoon “gained notoriety after Russian troops abducted it from a zoo” during the retreat from Kherson Oblast in November 2022.
The US Institute also notes that Russia’s Defense Ministry is “increasingly targeting” Russian military bloggers in censorship and self-censorship campaigns, and that “actors affiliated with the Defense Department may have sought to censor this military blogger.”
“The military blogger claimed that the ‘traitors’ kidnapped the raccoon and then left occupied Ukraine, suggesting that he may have personally known who took the animal,” ISV writes.
However, ISW added that it was “unable to independently confirm the whereabouts or activities of the raccoon.”
Occupying raccoons in Kherson were stolen… they were also stolen from.
Let’s hope it was some kind person who may have wanted to rehome the animal. pic.twitter.com/mrVAv37i3O
— Be brave, like Ukraine uD83CuDF3B (@ukrbravery) October 29, 2023
Just when you thought Russian TV couldn’t surprise you anymore, they did
The Kostroma regional news release “Russia 1” showed a report about the “evacuated” (stolen) raccoon from the Kherson Zoo, which, according to them, becomes “a symbol of our paratroopers and their victories.” pic.twitter.com/MGVXsYxiUa
— Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) November 22, 2022
The occupiers stole everything from Kherson: paintings from art galleries, antiquities from museums, historical manuscripts from libraries. But the biggest prize for them was the raccoon they stole from the zoo. Steal a raccoon and die. pic.twitter.com/1mqBrrKjHQ
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) November 13, 2022
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Source: Hot News
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