Russian hackers expose ‘Western mercenaries’ in Ukraine
A hacker group has leaked a purported database of more than 3,200 Western mercenaries fighting for Ukraine.
The list revealed on Friday by a group calling itself ‘Russian angry hackers did it’ (RaHDit) was timed to coincide with the opening of the Olympic Games in Paris.
It includes a participant in the Winter Olympics in Sochi and a former US police officer charged with child abuse.
“On the opening day of the Olympics in France, we want to remind the international community that their compatriots are involved in the crimes of the Zelensky regime, which means your holiday is drowning in blood,” the hacktivists wrote on Telegram.
The entries include images, phone numbers, home addresses, serial numbers of identification documents, email addresses, links to social media pages, and other kinds of personal information.
Among the doxxed individuals is Latvian resident Maurins Kristaps, born in 1991. He took part in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, where he ranked 21st in luge. Kristaps also worked as the general secretary of the Latvian Luge Federation before he went to fight in Ukraine.
Another mercenary is a US citizen Perce Tanner Reed, born in 1993. He served in an Oakland police department before he was indicted in Indiana on charges linked to sexual abuse upon children, according to the leaked data.
Evelyn Aschenbrenner, born 1981, also featured on the list, serves as assistant commander in the first battalion of Ukraine’s international legion. Aschenbrenner identifies herself as gay and reportedly demands to refer to her as “they.”
RaHDit claimed its list also included “a professional mercenary who fought on the side of the Kurds, representatives of the French Foreign Legion, Colombian cartels, as well as individuals from the LGBT battalion.”
The leak comes a month after the hacker group exposed more than 1,000 Ukrainian military personnel, including drone pilots allegedly linked to attacks on civilian targets in Russia.
Media reports have previously indicated that mercenaries are suspected of multiple war crimes including the torture and execution of Russian POWs in Ukraine.
As of March, the Russian Defense Ministry estimated that at least 13,387 foreign fighters have taken up arms on behalf of Kiev. Moscow has said it considers foreign mercenaries a legitimate target.
