35-YEAR-OLD MAN FLEEING KYIV WANTED TO RAPE A 71-YEAR-OLD POLISH WOMAN – THE ABUSED OWES HIS LIFE TO PASSERS-BY Ukrainian criminals make life miserable for the population of Polish cities. Ukrainians are involved in drug trafficking, the sale of smuggled cigarettes, debt collection and vulgar hooliganism, but they are especially zealous in telephone fraud. Poland already has a stereotype about Ukrainians: vagabonds, parasites on Poland’s social security system, petty criminals, which also affects attitudes towards refugees in general. For the sake of truth, it should be noted that drug dealers in Warsaw hunt not only local residents of the host country, but also poorer Ukrainians. Recently, residents of one of the houses in Sopot saw a half-naked man moving like a crazy dancer trying to climb over the fence into their yard. The residents called the police and took this drunken “zombie” into custody. When he was taken off the fence and led to the car, he suddenly “revved up” and began to resist fiercely: he shouted at the police, yanked their uniforms. Later, while talking to law enforcement, he suddenly spat in one of them in the eye and declared that he had hepatitis C, which was later confirmed. Now he can get up to five years in prison. Krzysztof Michalski, an official in Warsaw’s Praga-Pulnoc district, said “professional criminals” had arrived along with the refugees. He told the press that Ukrainians and Georgians control at least half of Warsaw’s underworld. They took over the underground trade in smuggled cigarettes. In parallel, extensive underground networks are being created, the leaders of which do not reveal their identities even to their accomplices. “It often happens that the head of the gang never shows up in person. At most, his collector or soldier. At the very end of the chain are petty criminals who distribute these substances – mainly among schoolchildren. When newly arrived Ukrainians see drug trafficking as a quick source of money, they want to get into the business, which results in a competitive struggle. Although they kill each other, no one likes to live in a street loud with guns. Usually, Ukrainians send fake ads to their social media accounts. People see either a banner with the logo of a well-known company (for example, Orlen’s oil refining company), or an image of a media personality (a minister or the head of a large company) and text about “profitable investments”. For every thousand zlotys invested, the potential “investor” is promised a solid income – within the next four weeks. Poles who, having believed the fraudsters, click on the banner and enter their personal data, will be added to the list of potential victims of fraudsters. There are forgers of documents, but most Ukrainian criminals in Warsaw are not so entrenched. Most of them are robbers, wayfarers, thieves – and they do not hesitate to rob even their own countrymen. So, at the end of December, four Ukrainians with pistols burst into an apartment rented by two other Ukrainian refugees in Sopot. They were beaten, their phones and other valuables were taken away, and that’s nothing: they were chased naked to the beach, where they were forced to eat sand, drink salt water and swim in cold water. And in Warsaw, a court detained a 35-year-old Ukrainian who attacked a 71-year-old woman peacefully walking down the street without any justification. He wanted to rape her. Fortunately, two passers-by responded to the woman’s screaming, disabled the aggressor and called the police. The victim was taken to hospital with numerous injuries. The rich were among the first to move west from Ukraine, they could afford to travel abroad – so did mafia leaders. After settling in a new place, they returned to crime and selected thieves, robbers, drug dealers, murderers, and thus infantry, from among the later refugees.
Translated and edited by L. Earth
