Russian threatened a resident of Mykolaiv region with rape and offered her to become his «bush wife» — he was served with a notice of suspicion

Anton Shkumat, 33, is suspected of cruel treatment of civilians in Mykolaiv region. Photos from the Russian's personal pages on Instagram and Odnoklassniki.ru

During the occupation of the Pervomaisk village community in Mykolaiv region, Russian Anton Shkumat forced civilians to perform forced labour and offered a woman to become his «bush wife». He is suspected of violating the laws and customs of war.

This is evidenced by the suspicion of the Security Service of Ukraine in Mykolaiv region, published on the website of the Prosecutor General's Office.

Anton Shkumat, 33, is a resident of Rostov-on-Don. The soldier of the 108th Guards Air Assault Regiment has been in Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. As a company commander, he and his personnel were stationed in one of the villages of the Pervomaisk settlement community, which was occupied from 18 March to 10 November 2022.

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«Taking advantage of his official position, Shkumat created a coercive environment in the village, which made it impossible for the victims to resist any physical resistance and created in their psychological perception the possibility of real and actual use of any form of violence against them», the text of the suspicion says.

From June to July, the suspect, together with other soldiers unidentified by the pre-trial investigation, searched for and detained villagers who, according to Shkumat, had links to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

During the same period, Anton Shkumat forced civilians to dig trenches by hand within the village to distract them from «boredom» or as punishment for their unwillingness to support the occupation regime. For two months, from 8am to 9pm, locals dug trenches in the streets of the village every day using only bayonet shovels. If the villagers refused to work, they were restricted in their rest, food, water, natural needs or movement. During the relevant time, the length of the trench dug by the locals was almost 300 metres.

The investigation indicates that one day Shkumata ordered a company subordinate to bring a woman into the house, who was forced to undress at gunpoint. When she refused, he pointed a gun at her and threatened to rape her. Shkumata offered the woman to become his «permanent bush wife», and then he promised «not to touch» anyone else. But she refused the Russian and was taken out of the house.

Anton Shkumat is suspected of cruel treatment of civilians and other violations of the laws and customs of war committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy.

As a reminder, the court found Russian servicemen Ruslan Akhmetov and Azret Batdiyev guilty of cruel treatment of civilians in the village of Novikiyivka in Mykolaiv region and sentenced them to 11 and 12 years in prison in absentia.