Looting As a Way of Waging the War of the Russian Federation Against Ukraine And a Motivational Factor for Russian Servicemen

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to analyze the origins, causes and consequences of mass looting among servicemen of the Russian army and other power structures of the Russian Federation that invaded the territory of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. To investigate and determine the main features of looting, which are characteristic of servicemen of the armed forces and other power structures of the Russian Federation.

The research methodology is determined by the general procedures of scientific knowledge, the theoretical work of military historians, psychologists, and legal experts in the field of studying the deviant behavior of combatants. The investigation was carried out using multidisciplinary approaches using the methods of oral history, military anthropology and social psychology. The authors use the terminological apparatus established in the modern scientific and information space.

The scientific novelty consists in an attempt to analyze the causes of the emergence of such a type of crimes as looting, committed in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine by servicemen of the armed forces and other power structures of the Russian Federation.

Conclusions. Russia’s war against Ukraine 2014–2022 revealed chronic problems of moral order in Russian society and the Armed Forces. Thanks to propaganda operations, the mass consciousness of the citizens of this country has led to a dangerous slide towards legal nihilism, immorality, devaluation of human life and democratic values. These tendencies are fully inherent in the Russian army. In the conditions of the Russian-Ukrainian war, looting is an additional motivator for Russian servicemen to participate in hostilities and a way of material enrichment.