Sasha Skochilenko's Case Applicant Interrogation

[I'm 72. I'm a retiree]. I live at the address: St. Petersburg, [………]. Perekryostok is the only decent store near my house; it is located at the Shkipersky Mall shopping center, at the address: Saint Petersburg, 88A Malyy Prospekt of the Vasilyevsky Island, so I go there to do my shopping.

On March 31st, 2022, at 4:10 p.m., I came to Perekryostok through the entry closer to Nalichnaya Street and walked around the shop. I got bread, then went to get some vegetables. I also got meat, and when I went to the checkout counters, which are located by the entry closer to Nakhimova Street, I stopped by the display of fruit spreads, honey, jams. Fruit spreads and honey were on the top shelf. On the second shelf, on the strip where paper price tags are posted, I saw a strange price tag with a very long product description. I have an “eagle eye” (geriatric long-sightedness). So, in order to read the product description, I put on my glasses, which I carry in my coat pocket.

However, instead of the product description, I saw the text: “The Russian Army bombed an art school in Mariupol. Around 400 people were hiding there from shelling.” In addition, there was a price stated on that piece of paper—400 rubles[1]—and there was a bar code in place, which is to say, it had all the visual characteristics of a price label.

I was extremely outraged by this slander I read because I sympathize with Russian soldiers in Ukraine a lot, and watch all the news about this. Moreover, my son attended a children’s art school (obviously, the abbreviation <on the price tag> is none other than children’s art school[2]); thus, I have an understanding of what is such a facility all about, its floor space is unlikely to exceed 100 sq. m.; thus, it would have been difficult for 400 people to shelter there. Moreover, an art school is not a bomb shelter or any type of refuge, therefore, this action lacks sense. And ultimately, our soldiers would not have allowed a bombing of peaceful civilian objects, such as a school. Therefore, it is obvious that the presented information is a lie.

I was disgusted by this piece of paper. Thus, I took it from where the price labels are posted. I called a security guard and told him, “Look what you have hanging here!” He asked me back, “And what is it?” After which, I gave him the piece of paper in question, however, as it seemed to me, he was older than I am and could not see what was written there, which is why I read it to him aloud. In response, he shrugged his shoulders, after which I went to the check-out counter. I showed the cashier this piece of paper, to which the cashier replied, “This isn’t ours.” I said, “It doesn’t matter whose it is, it matters what it says,” and asked the cashier to call the manager so she could see whether there were pieces of paper like that in the store. After that, at 4:30 p.m. of March 31st, 2022, the cashier checked me out (I have kept the sale receipt, and would like to append it to the interrogation file), and the manager still was not coming. I repeatedly asked the cashier to call the manager, but the cashier explained that she had already called her. I waited for 10 minutes, after which I went home, without seeing the manager. According to the receipt, the cashier’s name was [………].

I took the piece of paper home, later a district police officer conducted the examination of the incident site with my participation, and withdrew this piece of paper from me as part of the examination.

Investigator’s question: What emotions did the reading of the aforementioned text regarding the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation elicit from you?

Answer: Starkly negative. I sympathize with our soldiers, and I am outraged by such slander directed at them. Even my hands were shaking with indignation.

Investigator’s question: How did the security guard react to the information you gave him?

Answer: As far as I understood, he thought it was foolish. At the same time, he could not react promptly, most probably, because, as it seemed to me, he had bad eyesight. Moreover, I had removed the piece of paper myself already.

Investigator’s question: How did the cashier react to the information you gave him?

Answer: She said that it was not the store’s price tag, after which she called the manager at my request (at least, went somewhere and told me so), for whom I waited in vain.

Investigator’s question: Where exactly did you discover the paper in question?

Answer: By the display of fruit spreads, honey, and jams, on the second shelf, next to price tags.

Investigator’s question: Did you see other “price tags” in the store similar to the one in question?

Answer: No, I did not see any more, as I went with the discovered price tag to the security guard and the cashier right away, and did not return to the retail space where the goods are.

Investigator’s question: Who has touched the piece of paper in question?

Answer: My son and I. I did not let the cashier and the security guard touch it.

Investigator’s question: Did you see who placed the piece of paper in question with the price labels?

Answer: No, I did not see, when I came to the display the price label had already been there, so it was before my arrival.

Investigator’s question: Do you believe the text in question to be true?

Answer: No, I believe this text to be knowingly false. 400 people, in my opinion, would not have fitted into an art school, and would not have been sheltering there, and the Russian military does not fire at civilian objects and civilian population.

04/01/2022

[1] Roughly $5 at the time of translation.

[2] The text, supposedly, read “khud. shkola”, an abbreviation of “khudozhestvennaya shkola”—an art school for children.