Occupants left their ally in Crimea to fend for himself

The terrorist country has left its collaborator in the occupation of Crimea to his fate, and now money for his treatment is being raised on social media. A charity fund set up by a former Ukrainian TV producer has turned into a mutual aid fund for collaborators.

This was reported by the Center for Investigative Journalism.

According to the media, Franchetti is a ward of the charitable foundation for veterans and the disabled "Svoiym", registered on February 24, 2022 in occupied Simferopol.

The founder of the foundation is Igor Goncharenko, a former Ukrainian music and television producer who headed the National Television Company of Ukraine from 2003 to 2009 and then moved to Crimea to avoid debts and court cases.

In 2024, the foundation regularly published appeals on social media to raise funds for Franchetti's treatment. He reportedly needed urgent surgery on his shoulder, as well as medical care for problems with his eyesight, joints, and heart. In addition, money was raised for clothes and orthopedic shoes for the fall and winter.

The media emphasized that, judging by the fact that funds are being raised from citizens, Franchetti's life in freedom in the occupied Crimea is not easy - Russia has left him to his fate after using him in propaganda projects.

In 2014, Franchetti took part in the occupation of Crimea as part of an illegal group. He was detained by Czech police in September 2021 at Vaclav Havel Airport on an arrest warrant from Ukraine. Initially, the Prague Municipal Court authorized his extradition, but the Czech Supreme Court overturned this decision. In March 2023, it became known that Franchetti was able to leave the Czech Republic; in an interview with a pro-Russian website, he said that he had wrapped the Czech court around his finger. The final verdict in absentia by the Prague High Court sentenced him to 10 years in prison.

According to the Ukrainian resourceMyrotvorets, Franchetti arrived in Crimea in 2014, joined the illegal armed group Sevastopol Self-Defense and later created another group, the North Wind reconnaissance team. He was awarded the medal "For the Return of Crimea" for his participation in the annexation of Crimea. The reconnaissance group he created surveyed the mountains and forests near Sevastopol in search of Ukrainian saboteurs and passed information to the Black Sea Fleet Command.

Анна Бальчінос